English III Monday, January 12, 2015

Bellringer Write about a time you convinced someone to do something, buy something, or believe something. What was it? How did you convince them? Do you think you are good at convincing people? If you haven’t done so already, turn in the magazine ad homework from last week.

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? What were your answers to this question upon receiving this assignment Friday? Did Douglass answer the question posed in the title in ways that they expected? What aspects of the speech seem particularly forceful and strong? Which parts in the speech seem particularly confusing?

Speech: Follow along as you listen The highlighted portions of the speech are read by Danny Glover in the YouTube video. Reflection question: What did you notice in the oral presentation that you did not notice in the transcript?

Frederick Douglass’ Speech Unfinished questions should have been finished for homework. Different colored highlighters were to identify examples of different rhetorical concepts found on the first page of the speech (e.g., orange for ethos, blue for pathos, yellow for logos). Then, continue to identify terms in the rest of Douglass’s speech. What new information or discovery did you make after identifying the literary terms? Is Douglass’s speech effective overall? Why or why not?

Frederick Douglass’ Speech Question #1: Students should note Douglass’s humble opening stance, an ethical appeal designed to win over his mostly white audience. Question #2: Students should identify Douglass’s questions as rhetorical and see that he is distancing himself from his audience to challenge them. Question #3: Douglass’s audience knew their Bible and would surely have felt uncomfortable having America compared to Israel’s Babylonian oppressors. Question #4: Students should be aware that Douglass is anticipating – and thus defining – objections to his rhetoric and thus providing himself an opportunity to refute his critics. Question #5: Douglass asserts that there is nothing more to argue, that America must be shocked or shamed into change. Students could cite a variety of entertainers and/or political commentators who rely on irony. Question #6: Douglass’s response is likely more forceful than the students’. He makes extensive use of hyperbole in this and later sections. Question #7: Students should do some research on the Fugitive Slave Law before answering this question. Question #8: In this series of staccato outbursts, Douglass demonstrates America’s hypocrisy by showing that the values it purports to champion at home and abroad are belied by its tolerance of slavery. He ends this tirade with America’s founding first document, the one being celebrated on the Fourth of July. Question #9: Students should be able to discern that Douglass’s conclusion has a calmer, more optimistic tone than the fiery sections that have come before. His purpose may be to win back the good graces of the audience that he has purposely antagonized and to provide a sense of hope for improvement in American society.