Post #14: Delivery, Maria Stewart, and Frederick Douglas

The ARCS textbook states that although delivery is now forgotten, it is still considered a cannon of rhetoric. While modern rhetoric's delivery relies more upon a "set format," such as a certain number of paragraphs, and such. Nowadays, the distance between the audience and the rhetor has significantly increased, making delivery even more obsolete. With oral discourse, the ears are focused in on the actual words, whereas the eyes are focused in on the bodily gestures of the rhetor. That being said, one can see how important punctuation is. The ancients had developed it in order to have a better flow with the actual written delivery.

Maria W. Stewart was an African-American rhetorician and activist. To her religion and God were very important, and from a young age she had access to books on preaching, which in a sense was the only real form of rhetoric for quite some time. During the early part of her life she had met many African-American clergymen who were important to the development of her thinking. One of whom was born free and actively attacked Thomas Jefferson for his racist statements. In her work titled "Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality," she asked her people to improve morally and educationally, and to resist white oppression.

Frederick Douglas, another activist, was born a slave, but he had strived to continue his education. During his enslavement Douglas organized literacy schooling for fellow slaves, instilling in others the need for an education and freedom. He later on fled to New York City, where he was free to speak against slavery. Many had noted him as a profound speaker, even when he refused to change his accent and dialogue. Douglas had truly believed that in order to speak to other slaves, he had to still relate to them and walk and talk like them.