Lily Wells Ms. Jones 4th hour 5/01/2023 Barack Obama gave a speech 10 years ago about Rosa parks; a statue being put up in her memory. but it was more than just speech about a person. It was a speech meant to inspire his audience to act with “quiet leadership” and “carry forward the power of… a courage born of conviction” (Lines 50-51). Obama uses stories, repetition, and an appeal to Pathos to carry home his point to act rather than to stay in stasis. The former president started off his speech with what could be described as the most used introduction in speeches: A story. He tells his audience of how “an Alabama driver learned” (Line 10). Obama used this story to help lead into his main points, telling one of the most well-known stories in the Civil Rights movement. Obama wanted his audience to start out comfortable with something most already knew before telling the rest and widely unheard tale of Rosa Parks. After telling the most well-known part, he talks about before the big incident, proclaiming to the audience that Rosa was much more than a footnote in history books. Obama introduces part of his message in this, talking about Rosa’s quiet leadership. The former president put this here because he wanted his audience to learn the term ‘quiet leadership’ first, before gearing up for his other points. …show more content…
he introduced his repetition quietly, talking about how the same Alabama bus driver Rosa faced had “pushed her off the bus” years earlier (Line 15).This is where Obama starts to build his repetition, stating later on “ Rosa Parks would not be pushed” (Line 19).This repetition is used to hype up his audience and get them ready for his message, although there was a bit to lead into still. because he was able to hype up the audience, it made it easier to convey his message. Having the audience in a good mood is a brilliant form of endearing the speaker to the