Presentation Title
“Another weapon of the pen to our struggle”: The Rhetorical Relationship Between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Langston Hughes
Major Field of Study
Master of Liberal Arts
Location
Dominican University of California (online)
Start Date
19-6-2021 11:40 AM
End Date
19-6-2021 12:40 PM
Abstract
Though they never had a direct meeting to share ideas, Martin Luther King, Jr and Langston Hughes shared a reciprocal rhetorical relationship. Examining Hughes’ poetry and King’s speeches provides some fascinating linguistic links between King’s conception of a political “dream” and Hughes’ use of the “dream” as concept in his poetry. Viewed from this perspective, the civil rights movement, particularly the rhetorically sophisticated and politically adaptive communication strategies of King, found an artistic and intellectual grounding that moved beyond the tenets of nonviolence, organizing, and jurisprudence, by adroitly deploying the poetry of Langston Hughes.
“Another weapon of the pen to our struggle”: The Rhetorical Relationship Between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Langston Hughes
Dominican University of California (online)
Though they never had a direct meeting to share ideas, Martin Luther King, Jr and Langston Hughes shared a reciprocal rhetorical relationship. Examining Hughes’ poetry and King’s speeches provides some fascinating linguistic links between King’s conception of a political “dream” and Hughes’ use of the “dream” as concept in his poetry. Viewed from this perspective, the civil rights movement, particularly the rhetorically sophisticated and politically adaptive communication strategies of King, found an artistic and intellectual grounding that moved beyond the tenets of nonviolence, organizing, and jurisprudence, by adroitly deploying the poetry of Langston Hughes.
Presenter Biography
Christopher McBride is a current MLA student at Stanford University. His previous training is in American Literature and Composition. He teaches writing and literature, and his specialty is nineteenth-century American Literature. His current interests include interactions between history, literature, and culture. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and biking in the Bay Area with his family.