Television news moulds historical consciousness by presenting its own construction of history. Historical consciousness is “individual and collective understandings of the past, the cognitive and cultural factors which shape those understandings, as well as the relations of historical understandings to those of the present and the future.” Television news documents events such as the Selma-Montgomery march to propagate its own version of history. The news painted a narrative of the march that saw African Americans as heroes in a righteous protest, fighting for the democracy that their nation prided itself on, and the White Americans of the South as villains, obstructing them from achieving their goals. As said by historian Amos Fukenstein, …show more content…
The creative freedom the news has allows it to conceive a new historical consciousness. As proposed by Fukenstein, historical consciousness is essentially determined by “the degree of creative freedom in the use and interpretation of the contents of collective memory.” Audiences have unbiased memories as they are not present during the events the news captures. Their memories are mainly derived from the news’ interpretation of events, turning the news into a medium for the shaping of public memory. For example, images of protestors being gassed at Edmund Pettus Bridge conjured emotions of horror and anger in the American public. Historian Sasha Torres reflects that, “viewers found themselves inundated with journalistic representations of the social change struggle..” The emotions they felt as they viewed the news footage would permeate public memory, and thus alter the public understanding of historical events or issues concerning America’s racial divide. When the public revised their history in the case of the march, a new historical consciousness was forged as the news creates “cultural glue” which united its audience in a collective historical mindset that adheres to the historical account it has conceived on their television screens. This is exemplified in the reactions towards television news footage of the Selma-Montgomery March, March, reflecting the outcry it engendered as a result of America’s new historical
In The Race Beat, authors Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff explore the struggle of civil rights in the South from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s. Some major events during this time include World War I, World War II, the Brown vs. Board of Education case, the Voting Rights Act, sporadic periods of lynchings and riots, the Civil Rights Act, Jackie Robinson’s career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the achievements of Martin Luther King Junior. Within this book is the examination of various means of publicity and their significance to the civil rights movement. The authors employ mediums such as journalism, interviews, television broadcasting, and articles to support the claim that the Press has the power to drastically change race relations within
Martin Luther King Jr, a remarkable American activist, has made his way into the hearts of thousands of individuals. Dr.King is widely known for his earth shattering “I have a dream” speech that he delivered over 40 years ago, in 1963. The speech made its first appearance during the March On Washington, one of the largest political rallies in American history that tackled various issues regarding civil rights for African Americans. Dr. King uses numerous persuasion techniques within his speech to enthrall his audience within his will to change the devastating realities African Americans must survive through. Humans need to hear things a number of times before they really become glued into their minds.
I remember that day in Selma, Alabama. I was 12 years old. I watched my parents get beaten with night sticks, and strawn out on the ground, laying there being trampled. Equal rights was all we wanted, all we have ever wanted, so we all took a stand.
Martin Luther King then lead his followers to a peaceful march, a protest for equal rights, that landed them on a historical bridge. This march helped encourage the voting rights act, and to help the civil rights keep moving forward. Thesis: In his speech, Obama establishes a rhetorical situation with his of exigence, audience, purpose, and different rhetorical appeals and devices.
In order to achieve true freedom one must discover that you can break unjust laws through peaceful protest. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and “The Speech at The March Washington” by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community, the equality and power of education. We must learn to act with patients and not guns we must protect are self’s with a pen and paper not violence. Dr. King once4 said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is unique in history which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
On November 13th, 1969, Spiro Agnew, who was the Vice President at the time, gave the speech, Television News Coverage, about how news producers are becoming too powerful (Bibliography.com.) To successfully inform his audience, he uses many rhetorical strategies to keep everyone engaged and attentive. Agnew delivered an exceptional speech by using multiple techniques such as analogies, anaphoras, parallelism, and rhetorical questions to justify this problem to his audience. To help his audience understand what is being addressed, Agnew uses analogies to connect his ideas to familiar objects.
On April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, a persistent civil rights leader, addressed 8 white clergymen on the way they responded to the protests from nonviolent Negros. He supports this claim by first emphasizing that all of what is going on is part of their heritage and how everyone has rights, then by telling them breaking the law and standing up for what they believe in embodies the American spirit, and finally indicates the protesters are heroes and they are doing what they can to defend themselves and show others their side of what is going on. Through King’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the clergymen and the people of the U.S, to fathom what is happening everyday around them and
March Rhetorical Analysis The 1960’s civil rights movement often used persuasive language to echo the unheard voices of many individuals. Some more than others possessed the ability to exercise their potent use of language to bring forward prominent changes. In the book, March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, eloquent methods of speech play an important role. John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and George Wallace are some that expressed their beliefs through persuasive empowering words.
Birmingham and the March Of Washington 1963 Birmingham and the March of Washington were main events of 1963 and played a significant role in the Kennedy administration’s move to end of segregation. The Birmingham demonstrations and the violent attacks pushed Kennedy into taking action. Media was a major eye-opening factor. It showed images from the brutal police attacks creating a worldwide concern . In response, Kennedy gave ‘The Civil Rights Address’ speech, which is seen as a turning point in Kennedy’s position towards the conflict.
People protest against racial segregation and discrimination leadered by Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Andrew Goodman. Fighting for our liberty and race equality they risked and sometimes lost their lives in the name or freedom and equality. This event demonstrates that freedom is the most important right that people should have, they even died for us to have justice, liberty and equality because they knew that it is the only way you can make decisions about you and your benefits to have a good quality of
Dancing in the streets: Civil rights “dancing in the street” was a song written for all the cites in the world who were facing racial discrimination during the 1950s. One of the cities mentioned in the song was Chicago. Chicago has had many racial problems during the 1950s, problems with gangs and whites fighting blacks. On 1966, Martin Luther, the leader of the civil rights movement, decided to have a plan for Chicago, which he named “Chicago freedom”. Plan “Chicago freedom” was supposed to help Martin and his followers of the civil rights movement, to be able to bring their civil rights march to the southern areas of Chicago to show why we should all be equal with one another.
As kids people get taught what is wrong and right from a parental figure or experiences of life teach us how to react to different situations. When we finally turn adults no one is there to remind us of what’s good and what's bad so we have to use our past experiences and our knowledge to help guide us. Each adult shapes their societies for their generation and many more generations to come. Mohandas k. Gandhi and Susan B Anthony’s speech along with the article Selma to Montgomery March on history show that civil disobedience is a moral responsibility.
At the 1963 March on Washington, American Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most famous speeches in history on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the height of the African American civil rights movement. King maintains an overall passionate tone throughout the speech, but in the beginning, he projected a more urgent, cautionary, earnest, and reverent tone to set the audience up for his message. Towards the end, his tone becomes more hopeful, optimistic, and uplifting to inspire his audience to listen to his message: take action against racial segregation and discrimination in a peaceful manner. Targeting black and white Americans with Christian beliefs, King exposes the American public to the injustice
This march was watched by millions of Americans and through this march, many whites saw just how cruel the blacks were treated. King organized another march on the same bridge that Bloody Sunday took place, and in this march hundreds of whites traveled to Selma to participate in the march. Another example of the movie portraying history right is when we see Johnson giving his famous “we shall overcome” speech, when confirming the equality between black and
There have been many movements in the United States in which African Americans have been the focal point for example the Selma March, the March on Washington, the civil rights movement, and even today the Black Lives Matter movement. Those movements have had a significant impact on the United States and still play a part in today’s society. Those movements still play a part in today’s society because without those movements there wouldn’t be a Black Lives Matter because African Americans wouldn’t have the courage to stand up a fight for their rights if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, or the many other activists that stood up for African-American rights. Selma and the March on Washington share a big relationship to the Black Lives Matter and they are just as important to the civil rights movement.