Beth

Campbell assignment:

My students are young white women who wish to become involved with womens rights. Perhaps before now they have been unaware of/isolated from Wells and other African American suffragists who have been working very hard on lynch laws.

While studying Campbell’s Philosophy of Rhetoric, I will assign the following to them:

Part 1:
Read the text of Ida B. Wells’ “Lynch Law in all its Phases”. Please note in particular which portions of the speech you find particularly moving and why.

Now go directly to Campbell. I want you to read chapter 7, which addresses consideration to the hearers. Campbell argues that it is necessary to engage the passions of the audience if the rhetor’s goal is to persuade. On page 77-78 Campbell tells us that the goal should be to excite the passions, and then ensure that the action you are asking them to take are connected to the passions that have been excited. [21st century note: I’m paraphrasing because I don’t have the whole quote at hand--- page 78 wasn’t included in our pdf, but this was how I understood the unfinished sentence at the bottom of 77]

Go back to Wells and your notes from your initial reading of the text. The portions of the speech that you found particularly moving—how did they arouse your passions? Which of the seven circumstances that Campbell gives as arousing passions are at work in your reading of the text? Is Wells making the necessary connection between passion and action?

Part 2:
A. Choose one of the following topics: Lynching, Suffrage, or Labor rights (or if you have another in mind, please consult with me) and draft an editorial for the school paper about it. As you plan your piece, please make sure you think about the following:
1. Your goal will be persuasion. What action are you specifically asking your audience to take?
2. Choose at least two of the circumstances that Campbell gives for arousing passions and use them in your editorial. Can you link these to the action you’d like your audience to take?
B. Trade drafts with a partner, and do not let them know which of these circumstances you were addressing in your paper. See if you can find a link between passion and action in your partner’s paper, and see if you can correctly identify what your partner was trying to use to arouse passion.