Maddern
English 2
June 1, 2012
Lyndon Baines Johnson-"We Shall Overcome" (1965) In his speech to Congress, Johnson clearly talks about the struggles of African-Americans. This speech was given on March 15, 1965, after the police attacked a group of African-Americans preparing to march to Montgomery. His goal in his speech was to explain the suffering that was happening in many citizens that were denied equal rights. He showed the idea through much supporting evidence and the use rhetoric devices. Some of the key points of Johnson's speech was the suffering of African-Americans, the right to vote, and the need to pass a civil rights bill. Through these main points, and his speech structure, Lyndon Johnson went on to give one of the greatest speeches of all time. The structure of a persuasive speech is one of the most important part, as it helps how your speech is received. The structure is known as how your speech is laid out and includes the areas of what you are going to talk about, how you say it, and then repeating to the listener what you said. Johnson clearly included all of these steps, which made his argument that much stronger. Probably the most important part of a speech is the evidence. Johnson used evidence in order to explain how horrible it was that people were not getting equal treatment and rights. "Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination." was one example of evidence in his speech. All together, his evidence and use of rhetoric devices allowed his speech to be unforgettable. The use of rhetorical devices in any speech or report is a strong way to improve its persuasiveness. In "We Shall Overcome", He uses many rhetorical devices including analogies and anaphors. One example of a analogy is, "To apply any other test -- to deny a man his hopes because of his color, or race, or his religion, or the place of his birth is not only to do injustice, it is