Thesis and Reasons

Direction: Write your final thesis in a post, and then state three (or four) prospective Reasons/topic sentences that support your thesis. The Reasons should support your thesis, and also should be supportable by evidence from "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Your evidence will be posted/explored later, however. In this post, there should be no citations or quotations, unless you quote single words.

Example:

In his response to the clergymen, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King answers their accusations and criticisms in order to create a call to end segregation. He uses his credibility as a civil rights leader and religious figure, as well as his extensive education, to prove sound judgment and successfully show why he belongs in Birmingham. 

Reason 1: In his letter, King immediately offers his credentials, explaining that he is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and in Birmingham at the behest of The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.

Reason 2: In addition to his position as a leader in the civil rights movement, Dr. King’s vast religious education and upbringing aid him in responding to the clergymen’s accusation that he, as an "outsider," has no place in Birmingham.

Reason 3: King shows that his conscience and his comprehension of justice enable him to distinguish between "just" and "unjust" laws.

Reason 4 (optional): In response to the clergymen’s call for diplomacy, King concedes that this course of action is the ultimate goal of his movement.

Initial post due according to the date you workshop your thesis in class.
If you workshop your thesis on the 17th, your thesis and reasons will need to be posted before class on the 19th. If you workshop your thesis on the 19th, your thesis and reasons will need to be posted before 10am on Friday, the 21st.

No immediate reply to a classmate is due.

Rhetorical Appeals

The video is a eulogy performed by Maya Angelou for Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr's widow, "The First Lady of Civil Rights." Please click on the link above, and read what King did for human rights, because it will help you to better answer the questions posted after the video.

Directions: Watch the video below, and answer the questions.

1. Who is the target audience for this eulogy (think about the target audience for any eulogy, but, also, who Angelou identifies as her audience)?
2. What is the Occasion/Situation? Think about what makes this situation different from any other speech honoring someone.
3. What is the purpose of this eulogy (regard all the different ways that Angelou talks about King; how do the different approaches she takes reveal the multiple aspects of King's life and mission?)? 
4. What are some of the rhetorical appeals in this eulogy, and why are they necessary? (Think about how she connects to the audience emotionally and logically. What is her credibility, beyond the fact that she is Maya Angelou?)
5. Do you see any logical fallacies? If so, what are they?

Initial blog post due before class on March 12th. Try to keep your post as succinct as possible.

Reply to classmate: Find a classmate who does not already have a response, and note one aspect of the response that you feel was particularly effective in its identification of either Audience, Occasion, Purpose or Rhetorical Appeal. Tell your classmate why and how his/her approach to that aspect was effective (what appeals does s/he use for his/her audience: you?)

Reply due before class on March 17th. Be clear, detailed and succinct in your reply.