Stokely Carmichael on Black Power

In class, you heard a brief definition of "black power" by Stokely Carmichael. Here is one of his extended arguments about black power. Notice that this text is not just a definitional argument, but it uses defintition as one of its primary rhetorical strategies. This text is on the longer side, so it's fine to skim through it. 536 KB.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on Black Power

We talked about Carmichael's and King's disagreements about "black power" as a slogan for the black freedom movement of the 1960s. Compare King's definitions of black power with Carmichael's. Notice that King offers positive and negative definitions, and ultimately leads readers to turn against the slogan despite his defenses of it. King's essay is the longest of the readings. Feel free to skim it, but be sure to get a feel for the structure of the essay: he spends time first positively defining/justifying "black power," then he moves to negative definitions. 1.3 MB.

Marvin Liebman's Letter on his coming out

In this letter, Liebman uses definition as a critical rhetorical strategy: how does he define "homosexuality" to persuade his conservative readers to accept it? How does Buckely respond to Liebman's definitions? Liebman's letter is a quick read, as is Buckley's response. 164 KB.

Anna Howard Shaw on "The Fundamental Principle of a Republic"

Anna Howard Shaw argues that woman's right to vote cannot be denied if U.S. citizens believe that the United States is a republic. By definition, woman suffrage should exist in the U.S. because it is a republic. Can you find examples of her use of definition in the speech? Shaw's text is funny but not the shortest of these pieces. You should have a sense of her definitional strategies after reading several pages, though I recommend you skim the whole speech if you are able. 828 KB.

Tom Segev on "Israelis"

How does Segev define "Israeli"? Why is his definition significant? What is the exigence for his definitional argument? This is a quick piece. 76 KB.

As usual, feel free to email me if you have any questions.