Hiring African American Rhetorical Analysis

The first recorded Africans came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 in agreement to work as servants. As many other English settlers were dying from harsh conditions, more Africans were brought to America to work as laborers. The last Africans were brought to America in late 1850, early 1860. So, does being born 150 years after someone’s ancestors came and settled in America still make them African American? This is the topic in John McWhorter’s “Retiring African American”. In McWhorter’s essay his objective is to convince the reader that not everyone who calls themselves African American is actually African American. McWhorter uses a good bit of logic in the text in order to prove his point. For example, in the quote from McWhorter’s essay he states “Back in the day — 1970, to be exact - -there were only about 10,000 African-born people in the United States. I kind of remember that: By that time I, even living in a populous Northeastern city, had met a single African.” He uses logic and statistics to motivate the reader to agree with him on the subject. The term used for this persuasive writing strategy is called logos. Another example of

Ethos is when the author uses their real life experiences to create credibility and trustworthiness so the reader will be more likely to consider their argument. For example, in McWhorter’s quote he states “My openly bisexual saxophone playing great-grandmother didn't know from Benin. My great-aunt who was still running up the steps of the now-defunct North Philadelphia train station in her nineties did not speak Yoruba (and in fact spoke a solid, crisp "Negro dialect" I recall fondly). My grandfather didn't set up his printing shop in Lagos. My parents made my life possible far, far from Angola. I am not "African American" — I am black American.” This quote uses ethos because McWhorter uses his family as an example of why he believes he is not an “African