In 1963, during an extremely segregated era, President John F. Kennedy gave a very emotional, brave, and empowering speech. He gave that speech because he had to send National Guardsmen to an Alabama college so two Negroes could enroll without being injured by the other college students. In Kennedy’s, “Civil Rights Address,” he emphasizes the importance of equality through strong, straight-forward facial expressions and hard stares at the camera. He also use an elaborate metaphor and a historical allusion to stress his point. Kennedy successfully created a turning point in our Nation’s history sparking the idea for many Americans that all men are equal and should be treated the way you want to be treated. Kennedy was speaking to all Americans
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Kennedy mentions how, “One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free”(Kennedy). Kennedy believes that is unacceptable because if they are not truly free then the civil war was for nothing. Kennedy uses this to get the audience to realize that it's actually been a long time since the civil war. The audience would have started to think about all the changes that have occurred over the last one hundred years, yet segregation and racism has not changed. Kennedy also says, “We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes”(Kennedy). He claims that Americans are very hypocritical to other countries because we are the land of the free but not everyone here is free. He says this to show the audience that we aren’t the land of the free until everyone is free. This puts the idea in many peoples heads that we can’t continue on this journey of segregation. Kennedys allusion was very clever because many white males at that time were pro-segregation, and this was the push they needed to
Kennedy mentions how, “One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free”(Kennedy). Kennedy believes that is unacceptable because if they are not truly free then the civil war was for nothing. Kennedy uses this to get the audience to realize that it's actually been a long time since the civil war. The audience would have started to think about all the changes that have occurred over the last one hundred years, yet segregation and racism has not changed. Kennedy also says, “We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes”(Kennedy). He claims that Americans are very hypocritical to other countries because we are the land of the free but not everyone here is free. He says this to show the audience that we aren’t the land of the free until everyone is free. This puts the idea in many peoples heads that we can’t continue on this journey of segregation. Kennedys allusion was very clever because many white males at that time were pro-segregation, and this was the push they needed to