Rhetorical Analysis On Barrows

America has come a long way from the time of slavery, after the Civil war when slavery was abolished the southern Negro was having difficulty fitting in the normal “white” lifestyle. Passionate, expectant, and placid author Samuel J. Barrows approaches the southern Negro’s lifestyle and to expand on the differences between the quality of life before the Civil war and after during June of 1891. Barrows is striving to educate and expand on the difficulties that the Negro’s are working through in order to make their lifestyle equal to the whites to the other American citizens. Dedicated and confident Barrows is educating the American citizens, both Negroes and whites, but utilizing motivational imagery to give them a sense of hope, many different

forms of repetition, an appeal to religion as a way to show their lifestyle, an emphasis on rhetorical questions, and anecdotes of the Southern Negroes that Barrows had visited. Barrows ultimately wanted to speak out about the challenges that the southern Negroes are going through, but leave them with hope for an enhanced future and also leave the Negroes whose quality of lives that hasn’t changed with hope for there future also.
Furthermore Barrows utilizes motivational imagery to give the Negroes a sense of hope for the future.

Throughout the passage, Barrows uses a pattern where he will utilize the imagery, and then bring up the present and the future. For those who do not already have a better future this is giving hope to them, but it is also a time where they can reflect on the past. It is not hard to see that the Negroes have worked their butts off to get the the place that they are today, and not everyone is even their. The trip that Barrows went on, where he traveled through a whole bunch of different places in the South, was an eye opener for all of the United States. Their is only a small portion of the Negroes that were able to start to make a decent living for themselves, because only a few number of them had an idea of what they were suppose to do. For instance Barrows says “Three courses were open to him as a free man: first, to rent his own labor; secondly, to rent and work the land of his former master; thirdly, to buy and work a farm for himself.” Barrows is expressing imagery here because he is showing what people could have, not all of the Negroes have it and the ones that do have it are only able to do one of the free things that are available to them. After the civil war, everyone was nervous for the changes that were to come because no one knew what was going to happen. The change was difficult for both races, and not all of the Negroes were able to grasp on the idea of

freedom. Through his imagery, he was able to give the hesitant Negroes hope for their future. Another spot where he showed imagery was, “In the latter country, I was told that is a small city of 10,000 nearly all the colored people own their homes, and lived in cabins or houses varying in size from one room to eight.” The hope the Barrows was able to portray in his imagery helped bring the citizens together and embrace their new found freedom.
Moreover Barrows demonstrates repetition to express the idea of how much the Negro is doing for himself. Barrows demonstrates repetition in a unique way, where he does not repeating phrases right next to each other but he always repeats the same sentence of, “[...]what the Negro is doing for himself[...]” While one of Barrows main ideas is to give the Negroes, who do not have full freedom, hope; and he is expressing how far they have come. Barrows is directly addressing the white citizens of America because they are the one’s who had doubted the blacks humanity because of the color of their skin. But he is not only addressing the whites, he is also addressing the Negroes, and giving them a sense of pride for the life that they have been able to build for themselves. For instance a similar phrase Barrows used is “The social progress of the Negro is well illustrated by two historic cities [...]” Even though this isn’t the same direct quote that Barrows had repeated throughout the passage, he repeated this and several other lines that are extremely close to the common one of “what the Negro is doing for himself.” It seems that Barrows is repeating phrases that are like the main one that was mentioned before because they are all evidence or answers to what the Negro is doing for himself, and to answer how far they have come from before the civil war.
Nevertheless Barrows exposes an appeal to religion to address the Negroes past and their new found freedom. Before the civil war the only organized activity the Negroes did was going to church on Sundays. For instance Barrows said, “Under slavery the Negroes were not organized, except in churches. The organic spirit must have time for growth.” Going to church was the only normal activity that the Negroes were able to participate in. Once they were free from slavery, going to church was one of the only things they knew they could do. Everything else was cloudy as to what they could officially do, and what they were suppose to from the civil war on. This made church a big deal to the Negroes, and Barrows was able to show that. His use of expressing how the Negroes felt about church, and explaining how important their religion was too them. Barrows was able to bring out their sense of freedom in the way that he addressed the topic of going to church. The church was their safe haven, their escape from reality and once they were finally free that became the one thing they knew they could depend on. The church helped them get jobs, pay for houses, education, all sorts of other aspects of life that the white citizens had but the Negroes did not. The church was also a place to relax and escape the hardships of life. Just because the Negroes were free, does not mean that it was easy for them to start their own life. Barrows appeal to religion showed how much freedom that the Negroes were actually getting because of how much they helped each other through the community that they had built for themselves.
Additionally Barrows emphasizes rhetorical questions to emphasize what the Negro is doing for himself, and how they are fighting through the struggles of it. Since the Negroes were all in slavery before the civil war, they did not have an education, a job, or a house they could call their own. The only normal activity that they had was going to church. While Barrows was traveling through the Southern states, he started his journey with the question in mind of What is the Southern Negro doing for himself? With that in mind Barrows asked about the different aspects of their life. But for the most part the Negroes did not have an answer for him. For instance, education was a brand new topic for them and they did not know how to go about the topic. Barrows asked them “[...]What is education doing for Negro; secondly, What is the Negro doing for education?” Now Barrows only addresses the second question but that does not make the first question of less importance, they go together. Barrows does not give a full answer to the question but he gives evidence as to how they are going about getting an education and making sure that the children are educated. The emphasis on rhetorical question helps to open the eyes of the whites. Even though that had not been fair, and are not making life easier or harder for the Negroes they are still shocked at how much they are able to do. The Negro had only been free for 26 years, and while that is only a short amount of time, the Negroes have wasted no time preparing a life for themselves and for the generations to come.
Meanwhile Barrows asserts anecdotes to expand on the difficulties of their life, but also to to show how proud the Negroes are of their new life.

The emotions that Barrows is trying to get across would not be powerful without him inserting personal anecdotes of the people who are actually living it. One can not imagine what their life would be like or describe it, without personally witnessing it or having someone who is living it describe it. For instance one of the anecdotes that was used is “Immediately after the war I lived at the national capital. Thousands of destitute blacks from Virginia and further south had settled in the barracks around the city. They owned little more than the clothes on their backs, and most of these had been given to them.” It is not like the Negroes had an easy start to freedom, the soldiers that fought in the civil war had to make their own life for themselves, with very little help from the government or anyone else. But this did not damper the Negroes, they kept their heads held high and kept moving forward with their life. Some of the other cases that Barrows had presented, he didn’t list any of the names for instance he spoke about a teacher who got a raise after the civil war because she was a black teacher. Other programs had used the extra money that they were earning to build more schools, and get teachers for the Negro children. Barrows insertion of anecdotes helped show the white citizens how proud the Negroes were how their new

life, and how they are working through their difficulties with a clear and hopeful head because they had finally won the fight that they had been fighting. Even if they had very little the hope, the perseverance that they had fighting for a house or a job was able to help prove themselves to the white citizens. Barrows assertion of anecdotes was another way to show the whites that the Negroes were not giving up and they were proud of how far they have come.
As can be seen Samuel J. Barrows’ issue persuades the American citizens, of both race, about how far the Southern Negro has come on their quality of life through imagery, repetition, an appeal to religion, rhetorical questions, and personal anecdotes. Samuel J. Barrows’ emphasis on the Southern Negroes quality of life is a huge step in reaching better equality for the Negroes who have been able to change their life, and be able to give hope to the Negroes who have not been able to have a better lifestyle.