James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” was first delivered October 16, 1963, as “The Negro Child- His Self-Image.” The speech was first published in The Saturday Review, December 21, 1963, and was later reprinted in The Price of the Ticket, Collected Non-Fiction 1948-1985, Saint Martins 1985. Baldwin presented the speech to ask New York’s schoolteachers for help during the civil rights movement. At this time, the country’s curriculum was from the view of the white race, and Baldwin wanted the NYC schoolteachers to acknowledge what was going on. Through the use of logos, connotative diction, and ethos, Baldwin skillfully delivers a brave and direct message to the teachers of that time period. Baldwin begins the essay with an appeal to his audience’s
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Phrases such as “crucial paradox,” “indispensable to the economy”and“victims of this conspiracy” can be read throughout the essay. The focus of the paragraph that the phrase “indispensable to the economy” was taken from is that “black men were brought here (here being America) as a source of cheap labor.” (Para. 9) What Baldwin means by saying this is that the whites in America, during her early years, had no care whatsoever for blacks as people, but rather saw them as merely pieces of property. In the next paragraph, Baldwin goes on to mention the Reconstruction that took place after the Civil War ended. He talks about how “when we (the Negroes) left Mississippi to come North we did not come to freedom. We came to the bottom of the labor market, and we are still there.” (Para. 10) Baldwin tells of how brainwashed the republic has become that they do not even realize that the Negro race has still been unable to make a dent in their relationship with the white race after so many years. He sums them up as “victims of this conspiracy to make Negroes believe they are less than human.” (Para. 10) With his gripping, connotative diction, Baldwin adroitly reinforces his overall message of restricting the country’s
Phrases such as “crucial paradox,” “indispensable to the economy”and“victims of this conspiracy” can be read throughout the essay. The focus of the paragraph that the phrase “indispensable to the economy” was taken from is that “black men were brought here (here being America) as a source of cheap labor.” (Para. 9) What Baldwin means by saying this is that the whites in America, during her early years, had no care whatsoever for blacks as people, but rather saw them as merely pieces of property. In the next paragraph, Baldwin goes on to mention the Reconstruction that took place after the Civil War ended. He talks about how “when we (the Negroes) left Mississippi to come North we did not come to freedom. We came to the bottom of the labor market, and we are still there.” (Para. 10) Baldwin tells of how brainwashed the republic has become that they do not even realize that the Negro race has still been unable to make a dent in their relationship with the white race after so many years. He sums them up as “victims of this conspiracy to make Negroes believe they are less than human.” (Para. 10) With his gripping, connotative diction, Baldwin adroitly reinforces his overall message of restricting the country’s