Frederick Douglass was a former slave
“turned abolitionist orator, newspaper editor, social reformer, race leader,
and Republican party advocate” (Martin, Preface). He had to overcome a limited
education, opposition from friend and foe, and take the time, where he could,
to study rhetoricians of the past to become one of the greatest orators and
rhetoricians of the 19th century. Douglass addressed large mixed
audiences as he traveled throughout the world speaking against slavery
addressing over 100 meetings a year. During these engagements he sometimes
faced violent opposition and sometimes he even contended with internal quarrels
within the abolition movement itself (Bizzell and Herzberg 1062).
In looking at Aristotle’s three
persuasive appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos, outlined in On Rhetoric, it is evident that Douglass masterfully used pathos to
evoke strong emotions from his audiences. These emotions ran the gamut from
sympathy and fear for the young slave boy, hatred for the slave owners who
mistreated and abused him, and the feeling of hope for a better tomorrow. He
also used logos to his advantage to persuade his audiences to take action and
join the cause to abolish slavery and later to treat black people as equals
with thoughts, feelings, and goals just like white people.
Where Douglass struggled, through no
fault of his own, is ethos. “Before you can convince and audience to accept
anything you say, they have to accept you as credible” (Dlugan). He became
increasingly frustrated with the white friends who encouraged him to keep his
plantation accent in his speech or a trace of slave’s servility in his manner.
Instead “he worked hard to improve his diction and his command of Standard
English” (1063). He also paid careful attention to his clothing and styled his
hair to emphasize its African texture. “His successes as a speaker lead
audiences to doubt that he had ever been a slave…” (1063). Doubters who
attended his public speeches accused Douglass of having a white ghost writer.
To counter the criticism he published the Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American slave Written by Himself in
1845 (Bizzell and Herzberg 1063). It
is hard to say if his audiences respected him given the attitudes of white
people during the time, even if they supported his causes. Without respect how
can there be trust let alone be considered an authority on the topic? The
latter being especially true since some did not believe his story. “Keep in mind that it
isn’t enough for you to know that you are a
credible source. Your audience must know this. Ethos is your level of
credibility as perceived by your audience” (Dlugan).
Douglass had no training in rhetoric but
he studied famous speeches such as Cicero and George Washington (Bizzell and
Herzberg1068). “John W. Blessingame, a modern editor of Douglass, points out
that naturalness of gesture and expression, flexible use of the voice for
emphasis, in imitation of different manners of speech for humorous or otherwise
illustrative effect, all emphasized by Bingham, were all noted by contemporary
observers as key features in the success of Douglass's oratory” (1068).
Newspaper reporters took note of his oratory skills and began to praise it in
news articles. In describing an encounter one reporter said it was “better to
have run upon a lion. It was fearful, but magnificent, to see how magnanimously
and lion-like the royal fellow tore him to pieces, and left his fragments
scattered around him” (Martin 24). Another reported he “spoke with great power.
Flinty hearts were pierced, and colored ones melted by his eloquence” (23-24). “Learning
to read, write, and orate almost simultaneously, as Douglass did,” prepared him
well for his future as an abolitionist activist (Bizzell and Herzberg 1068).
Although oratory played a major role in the movement, “the line between written
and spoken rhetoric was indistinct - speeches were often carefully composed
before being delivered, and they were edited again before being published…”
(1068). “While employing Standard English and European cultural references, for
the most part, he expressed an African American point of view and gave a
uniquely African-American twist to European American cultural elements” known
as black jeremiad (1068).
Although Frederick Douglass had no
formal training in rhetoric and had a limited overall education he was able to
overcome these obstacles to become one of the greatest orators and rhetoricians
of the 19th century. He was innately able to use Aristotle’s ethos,
logos, and pathos to his advantage, as much as he could and was allowed to in consideration
of the discrimination he faced.
Citations
Bizzell,
Patricia, and Herzberg, Bruce, eds. The
Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical
Times
to the Present.
Bedford/St. Martins: Boston, 2001. Print.
Dlugan, Andrew. “Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3
Pillars of Public Speaking.” Six Minutes
Speaking
and Presentation Skills. Six Minutes. 24 October 2010. Web. 23 October 2011.
Martin,
Waldo E. The Mind of Frederick Douglass
Volume 2. The University of North Carolina Press,
1984. Google Books. Web. 23 October 2011.
