Instructor: John Stauffer
Thursday, 12:45-2:45 pm | Location: TBD
Enrollment: Limited to 25 students
Course Site
This course is a critical examination of the speeches and rhetoric of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who are among the greatest orators and nonfiction writers in English. We explore Douglass’s and Lincoln’s rhetorical practices, especially in relation to their politics and self-making. Along the way, we analyze the influences (the Bible, the literary canon at the time, journalism, regional writings) that contributed to their oratory. And we explore the contexts of their great speeches and their legacies.
This course satisfies the “1700-1900 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.