Contextualizing The Rhetorical Situation Of John Lewis March On Washington

Contextualizing the rhetorical situation of John Lewis’ March on Washington speech allows readers to break down four major parts in order to have a better understanding of the rhetoric involved. Each of the four parts, that is the author, the purpose, the audience and the origin( space and time) help to elaborate on the significance of the speech at hand. Specifically in this rhetorical situation, we will delve into the several factors that played significant roles in shaping how The March on Washington was not only presented to John Lewis and his peers, but as well as the country.

When looking at the four parts necessary in contextualizing the rhetorical situation, it is important to note any problems or constraints that might have motivated

This form of oppression was known as Jim Crow laws, which allowed a sort of legal discrimination towards Blacks. The need for a march was first thought of in the early 1940’s when A. Philip Randolph who was the president of the Negro American Labor Council wanted to combat discriminatory hiring toward African Americans. Fast forward to 1963, the year that the March On Washington occurred, America hit the 100th year mark for the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation set forth by Abraham Lincoln. This was a reminder to the nation of the need to alleviate racial tension. With that being said, people from all different races set aside their differences in order to collaborate for the march. The sense of urgency for change in the nation was at an all time high for both blacks as well as whites. Prior to the march starting, fights and riots still occurred around the nation where whites would retaliate against the black nonviolent protestors. Most of the protests occurred over the disagreement of how the march should be conducted rather than why the march was being conducted. The march wanted to tailor to a nation-wide scope whereas some felt

Around that time tension between Martin Luther King Junior and Bull Connor began to rise and by memorial day, civil rights protests were on the rise. One specific instance occurred in Columbus, Ohio where two men chained themselves to furniture in the capitol building and at the University of Alabama, the new Governor of the state George Wallace stood at the front door to ensure that no blacks would be a part of the registration. After a protest that day, one of the NAACP voter registration coordinators, Medgar Evers was shot dead in Wallace’s driveway around midnight.

With all of the violence occurring surrounding racial debates, Kennedy announced to congress that there needed to be a solution written up on how to handle protests in a manner where demonstrations would steer clear of violence and try to follow along the lines of peaceful protest. Regardless of his efforts, The Kennedy administration had not been holding up some of the promises that had been discussed most likely because unfortunately Kennedy did not have a full understanding of the race problem occurring in the United