Angela Davis, a renowned political and civil rights activist, was invited in 2012 to Pitzer College to give the commencement speech to the graduating class. Her speech touched on important points in her life as well as many of the values she fought for and believe in. I have never heard her speak before watching this commencement address, and my initial thoughts when hearing her speech was that she was old. Her speech was slow and at first a little boring. However, as her commencement continued onward, she started to get more into rhythm and while she stayed relatively slow, the power behind her words as she spoke made me want to listen more to what she had to say. Angela Davis has had an interesting history as an activist and educator, and …show more content…
Her slow yet concise way of speaking, coupled with easy to follow transitions allowed for a speech that was enjoyable to listen to. Her use of examples from her personal life allowed her audience to get a picture of who she was if they did not know, and allowed her to better relate to them by provided examples of how she is related to the college they are graduating from. Her reference to many modern political problems allowed her to bring up her important role as an activist and facilitated further understanding from the audience. While some areas of her speech were weak, such as the longer than needed pauses and her lack of consistent eye contact, to a few points where she didn’t speak clearly enough, the overall picture that was her speech was fairly strong. Looking at this speech, I hope to incorporate some aspects that I failed to include in my previous speeches. Some of these include her use of hand gestures to emphasize and exaggerate certain phrases and topics, and her combined use of appeals. While my initial thoughts going in were “This is boring” and “This is too slow”, it evolved into me wanting to hear more, and overall my defeat in the beginning turned into a victory at the
“Death is the only pure, beautiful conclusion of a great passion” (David Herbert Lawrence). Coretta Scott King was an inspiring person to women of all ages and races. However her death had an impact on everyone, she was seen as an idol, more importantly as a leader. Malcom X’s daughter Attallah Shabazz who is also Mrs. King’s most pride supporter addresses her remarks in her eulogy and engages the people at the funeral service for Mrs. King on the sorrowful day of February 7th, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. With hundreds of people, (mainly women) watching on TV or listening in the stands during this depressing time reflect and honor on the achievements and positive attitude she had on the community for others. Attallah Shabazz hoped that this event
My thoughts on whose Susan Cain’s speech she was humorous, seemed sympathetic, and trustworthy. I believed and visualized her thoughts on being an introvert. She sounded passionate but not overdoing it, more subtle in a
The Life and Activism of Angela Davis. I chose to do this research paper on Angela Davis because of her numerous contributions to the advancement of civil rights as well as to the women’s rights movement. I have passionate beliefs regarding the oppression of women and people of racial minorities. I sought to learn from Davis’ ideology and propose solutions to these conflicts that pervade our society. As well, I hope to gain historical insight into her life and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s.
There’s a crowd of people all facing directly at him; you ask yourself what he did that made him this sensation. You look over to your left and see a poster that says his name with a quick discerption that reads “The greatest leader of this Nation.” Just then someone asks him what a leader is and what makes him such an amazing one. He begins with his speech to answer this question you listen closely as he gives his answer.
Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, grandparents, pimps, prostitutes, straight people, gay people, lesbian people, Europeans, Asians, Indians, and Africans all have once thing in common: they are products of sexuality. Sexuality is the most common activity in the world, yet is considered taboo and “out of the norm” in modern society. Throughout history, people have been harassed, discriminated against, and shunned for their “sexuality”. One person who knows this all too well is activist and author, Angela Davis. From her experiences, Davis has analyzed the weakness of global society in order to propose intellectual theories on how to change the perspective of sexuality. This research paper will explore the discussions of Angela Davis to prove her determination to combat inequality in gender roles, sexuality, and sexual identity through feminism. I will give a brief biography of Davis in order for the readers to better understand her background, but the primary focus of this paper is the prison industry and its effect on female sexuality.
In her speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelley highlights the truth about child labor. Throughout her speech, Kelley uses many strategies to persuade her audience. First, Kelley uses facts to convince her audience that she is credible. Second, she uses facts to show her audience how serious she is about the topic. Lastly, she uses guilt to appeal to the reader’s emotions.
Angela Davis grew up in an intellectual development. She was decisively influenced by the thinking of the communist’s organizations. Her mother was a federal leading officer and organizer of the Southern Negro Youth Congress which was heavily influenced by the Communist Party. As very young women she has applied to an American Friends Service Committees program who had the power to arrange that South black students were integrated in school in the North. She chose Elisabeth Irwin High Schools in Greenwich Village where she was introduced to socialism and communism. As a teenager Angela Davis organized interracial study groups, which were broken up by the
The speech by Brene Brown was impressive. For her opening, she used a little side story about how she was seen as a storyteller by an event planner. This lead to a joke to make the audience lighten up early on and that mood was fairly present throughout the duration of her speech. Brown details how shame leads to vulnerability in all of us. However, this vulnerability is necessary and and it what makes us beautiful. I really agree with Brown that we try too much to perfect ourselves. So much so that we tend to ignore the fact that we should be content with the idea that we are enough. Aside from her content. Everything from her eye contact and hand movements seemed so natural. She also used pictures as a visual aid in her speech. Not only this,
Philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey, in her Eulogy, commends Rosa Parks as she will always be remembered for making history for African American people even if she has passed away. Winfrey’s purpose is to tell the world the difference Rosa Parks made not only for African Americans but to everyone else as well. She establishes this by utilizing tone, repetition and pathos in order to express that Rosa Parks left a mark in this world in such a courageous way.
Melania Trump Has something about her whether its her confidence or her beauty that just captures the attention of me and every one else. Before we get into Melania lets talk about how Trump walked out to we are the champions. I have been listening to people talk about this being pissed off. He hasn't even won the election and he's cocky. What they fail to understand is that this was the republican national convention he's not saying he won the election he won the republican ticket. Also I can see how this cocky attitude could be getting a little annoying He could be a little more humble. Melania is a very good speaker and started off her speech with talking about they're love for our country. Melania then began talking about how her love
In the African American community, we take pride in seeing our fellow people make it, as the famous saying goes “If one makes it we all make it”(Anonymous). In her acceptance speech at the 2015 Emmy Awards, Viola Davis speaks about the overwhelming dilemma of a low percentage of women of color winning top awards in Hollywood. Her powerful speech shines a light on the subject of African American women not progressing, because of the lack of opportunities. In response to her speech a fellow white actress Nancy Grahn degrades Davis by saying “Brilliant as she is, She has never been discriminated against”. This one comment got me thinking about the power to speak and who exactly has it.
What do the most famous speeches in history have in common? Motivation, selection, and, dedication. In this essay I am going to compare 4 speeches in which 4 people used their declaritive and outstanding vices to express their feelings in a huge way that impacted history. Also with these speeches I will be evaluating the major parts that lead to success and the parts which may have been faulty. The speeches to be evaluated are, "The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony on a woman's right to vote, "Ain't I a woman?" delievered by Sojourner Truth, and finally "I have a dream" given by the remarkable Martin Luther King Jr. Depending on your audience and the time, a speech can often be the most powerful way to motivate people,
“They told us we wouldn’t get here! And there were those who said that we would get there only over their dead bodies, but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, "We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around!” The march from Selma to Montgomery was a major part of history, segregation was really at its peak and African Americans were treated very poorly by the public by getting beaten and abused even by their own Law Enforcement Officers!
During this unit I got to read some outstanding speeches by people who changed the US. Then speech that most appealed to me was the speech Robert Kennedy gave about Martin Luthar King Jr.s death. The central idea of this speech was that Robert Kenday persuaded us to not give up on what Dr. King did. Although most people were engaged about this we should come as one and fight for equal right for black people. That one day white boys and girls will become friends with black boys and girls. Then the speech was very compelling because at first he was going to give a speech about his political run but instead addressed the public about Dr. Kings death. Robert told us to come as one so we can make it right so black people have equal rights as white people.
In a time of great crisis within its ownself, America was transforming. There were many events that happened in the 60’s but, one main event happen on the stairs of Lincoln Memorial, the speech “I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. King not only inspired millions of people, he revolutionized America with this speech. In this speech, King emphasizes the significance of civil rights by using multiple rhetorical strategies. Throughout this speech, he uses clever metaphors, many allusions, and strong pathos.