Rhetorical Situation
“The Wheels on the bus go round and round..... all through the town.” This depicts the capricious journey a group of men and women, who called themselves the Freedom Riders, embarked on in 1964 . The group was comprised of people from different backgrounds and walks of life who were passionate and motivated to take a stand in fighting for racial equality. They rode on a greyhound bus starting from the capital, Washington, D.C., ending up in Mississippi. Throughout their travels, the riders stopped in racially segregated restaurants and shops and participated in sit-ins where they would take on abuse from those against racial equality. This iconic photo taken by Steve Schapiro, Titled “The Summer of 1964 Freedom Bus,” depicts the sense of community the freedom riders had and wanted to share with the rest of America. This movement pushed racial equality to the forefront of the political agenda by drawing attention to it. By fighting for their cause in a passive aggressive way, the injustice and unfair treatment was more obvious in the violent acts people committed against them although they were exercising non-violent protests.
This is an interesting form of non-violent protest. A pressing question for me is whether this was the first time this type of protest was done and if something like this has been done again? I feel hunger strikes still continue today. - Jon Espinoza
ReplyDeleteI think the picture you chose clearly shows the diversity of the people who took part of the freedom rider movement.
ReplyDeleteThe rhetorical appeal of the freedom righters movement and the picture you have chosen really helps their case for racial equality. If a group of young adults from different backgrounds and of different race can get along riding around on a bus through our nation, then why can't everyone else get along?
ReplyDelete-- Collin