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Angelica Hunt

Professor Lori Bedell

CAS 137H

5 October 2018

Rights (Or Lack Thereof) in America

In the United States’ 242 years of existence, discrimination and a lack of equality have

permeated all levels of society. Before 1920, women fought for their rights, specifically for the

right to vote in elections, and in the mid-1900s, African Americans were fighting for increased

rights as citizens. Susan B. Anthony, a prominent and outspoken activist for women’s rights,

gave her speech “On Women’s Right to Vote” on a speaking tour in 1873 addressing her

experiences and hopes for women’s rights in the future. Almost 80 years later, Martin Luther

King Jr.’s wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” which was a letter by King in response to

being jailed for protesting and to defend nonviolent opposition methods against racism in the

South. Even though these pieces were presented in different times, through different mediums,

and both address different topics, their approaches contain some homologous rhetorical devices.

While Susan B. Anthony takes a logical and argumentative approach of the exigence in her

speech and Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter uses an empathetic appeal in approaching his

exigence, the overall creation of credibility, call to the civic, and core values associated with

each time period are fundamentally similar with each of the civic artifacts yet both provide

different styles and usage of rhetorical situations to approach the two separate ideologies of

women’s rights and civil rights.

Susan B. Anthony, during the 19th century, was considered a renowned activist for

women, and she capitalizes on these perceptions of herself to create a persona of integrity and

trustworthiness in her speech. In late 1872, Anthony and several other women voted in the 1872
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presidential election; shortly afterwards, Anthony and the other women were arrested for their

‘crimes.’ Several months later, Anthony was fined 100 dollars since she was found guilty of

voting in the state of New York when women did not have the right to vote in this particular

state- or really in any state. In protest of this ruling, Anthony refused to pay the fine, and wrote

her speech “On Women’s Right to Vote” to show that women should have more rights than what

they had at the time. Within her speech, she creates credibility through the explanation of her

experiences to show that she, firsthand, has experienced major setbacks because of her lack of

rights even as a ‘citizen.’ Anthony also represents the entire female population in her argument,

so she can relate very strongly to a large portion of people in the United States. Additionally, her

specific usage of facts and quotes from the Constitution of the United States show that she

possesses a large amount of wisdom that makes her seem trustworthy.

Anthony creates a strong argument by citing the Constitution and several famous

scholars; the logical appeals in her speech make up the majority of her argument. The exigence

for her speech is that women should be given the same rights as men have, and she introduces

her kairotic moment as the fact that she was arrested for attempting to do something a man

would never have been faulted for. One of her main points is that “women are citizens,” and that

all citizens should have equal rights regardless of gender. She argues that states do not have the

right to arrest a person for exercising his/her rights as a citizen of the United States because it is

in direct violation of the Constitution. The Constitution discusses “people” and Anthony ensures

that her audience knows that the word “people” refers to all, not just one specific gender or

group. Furthermore, Anthony references several scholars to discuss another one of her points.

Within in her speech, she states, “Webster, Worcester, and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a

person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold office,” and from this makes the claim that

a person is a citizen. Anthony interprets this quote by asserting that critics of her beliefs would
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not disagree that women are people, so she inquires why women can’t have the right to vote if

they are people and people are citizens. Anthony uses strong historical evidence and her

experiences to develop her reliability and logical justification of her argument, which differs

significantly from Martin Luther King’s choice in modes of persuasion.

Although Anthony appeals strongly to ethos and logical reasoning in her speech, King

decides to creates credibility and uses an empathetic appeal for his letter’s audience. Similar to

Anthony, King was also arrested for standing up for his beliefs, and establishes his

trustworthiness through these means. His letter was written in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama,

after he and several of his followers were arrested for protesting via sit-ins and marches with the

intent to draw attention from the media and fill up Birmingham’s city jails. It was 1963 and the

height of the Civil Rights era, and King in his letter seeks to address criticisms against his

implemented protest strategies while also trying to promote his methods to others fighting for the

same cause as him. At this point in time, King had cemented himself as an extremely prominent

civil rights activist, which additionally adds to his dependability as an activist in addition to his

arrest. On top of that, King directly addresses his critics’ arguments and his audience to make

sure they understand his points.

However, King does use a different mode of persuasion from Anthony- he uses a great

deal of pathos in his argument. When he talks about young African American children and their

first experiences with racism, he appeals to basically everyone who has ever experienced racism,

and especially targets parents because they have to deal directly with the situations Dr. King has

discussed. Specifically, he mentions a little African American girl crying because she is told by

her parents that she is not allowed to go to an amusement park advertised on television because it

is whites-only. Another example of racism he gives is of a five year old boy asking his father,

“… why do white people treat colored people so mean?” This directly appeals to the emotions of
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readers because it is heartbreaking to read about very young children already feeling and

beginning to understand the concept of racism when they should not have to worry about such

issues at such young ages. King specifically uses emotion to elicit the most effective response

out of his readers through specific delivery techniques.

King’s deliverance of his message through the means of a letter allows him to create a

long, heartfelt message that addresses many criticisms of his point of view and to create his

persona and perspective within the writing. He provides solutions to the problem by calling to

the civic and also telling people what to do to fight for more rights. Consequently, he promotes

nonviolent protests through marches and sit-ins in cities where racism and injustice is prevalent.

Being aware of supporter concerns, King directly addresses his constituents’ reservations over

breaking the law and being punished for doing such in the name of protesting. His argument is

that there are both just and unjust laws, so while there is a moral responsibility to obey just laws,

that same moral responsibility applies to disobeying unjust laws. King uses a vastly different

delivery style that better appeals to his audience, as Anthony uses a direct, pointed approach.

Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King’s delivery of their speech and letter,

respectively, differ but have the same core purpose and function- to call citizens forward to fight

for more rights. Anthony delivers her rhetoric through the means of a speech addressed to an

audience, so it is direct and to the point. It focuses strictly on evidence to support the main

points, so there is not a lot of time to develop her personal character. She provides a call to action

and what should be done, but does not necessarily show how to go about making a move.

Although she relates strongly to her female base because of similar worldly experiences, it is not

entirely due to her personal character or actions, though this helps her to further her major points.

Whether it be the rights of a woman or the rights of African Americans, Anthony and

King both create strong, yet different, sets of rhetoric using different rhetorical devices. While
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Susan B. Anthony relies more heavily on logic in her speech and Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter

focuses on an emotional appeal, both create a trustworthy persona based on their knowledge and

experiences in activism. Their calls to the civic and core values associated with the time periods

contain similarities yet provide different styles and usage of rhetorical situations to approach

their ideologies. Nonetheless, they approach difficult topics with the persuasion and precision

necessary to reach an audience over the subject of rights for those in need of them. The reason

why these artifacts are still studied to this day is because they effectively make use of rhetorical

devices and cover topics that are still major matters to this day. As a society, the issues discussed

in each artifact have not been overcome, making the arguments from each of the activists all the

more important. Despite it being many years since the pieces were written, activism for

inequality is still widely necessary in present day, and the sacrifices made by those before should

not be taken for granted or ignored in further decreasing inequalities for the present.

Works Cited

Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.], University of Pennsylvania,

www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html. Accessed 7 Sept.

2018.
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“The History Place - Great Speeches Collection: Susan B. Anthony Speech - Women's Right

to Vote.” The History Place, www.historyplace.com/speeches/anthony.htm. Accessed

7 Sept. 2018.