Criticism of Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was a prominent leader during the civil rights movement and an American "voting activist" ("Fannie" 1). Hamer worked as a field hand and a timekeeper on a plantation in the 1940s, but it was her attendance at several African American organizations' conferences in the 1950s that inspired an increased interest in civil rights and voting activism. As a victim of racism, Hamer was sterilized "without knowledge or consent" in 1961 by a white doctor as part of Mississippi's plan to "reduce the number of poor blacks in the state" ("Fannie" 1). After overcoming such challenges, Hamer testified before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention on August, 22, where she gave details of her virtual torture at the hands of abusive white police officers in Indianola where she tried to register to become a "first-class citizen" (Hamer 1).

According to Patricia Bizzell (153), Aristotle argued that rhetoric is the "faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." The purpose of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony is to persuade leaders of the Democratic Party to advance social justice for African Americans by removing institutional obstacles to their civil rights. This analysis will provide a rhetorical criticism of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony in light of this goal. The conclusion will address whether or not Hamer's rhetoric was successful in achieving her goals.

Speeches are a form of persuasive

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to the emotions of her audience by revealing the abuse visited upon African Americans at the hands of law enforcement. "They beat her, I don't know how long," she states. "And after a while she began to pray, and asked God to have mercy on those people" (2). Machiavelli also theorized on the qualities of sound and effective rhetoric. In matters of state and politics, Machiavelli shunned the techniques and tools associated with persuasive rhetoric. In The Prince he writes, "I have not ornamented this work nor filled it with rhetorical devices, or swelling and magnificent words...I wish my work...may be pleasing by the matter and weight of the subject" (Machiavelli 93). In many cases, Hamer's rhetoric is so effective because of its subject matter and its weight. It would be impossible to separate Hamer's testimony from its era, one where race relations were at a fevered pitch in American society. The subject matter of her speech is thus highly controversial, but its weight strikes at the very core of humanity and American democracy. For the abuses unveiled by the testimony make us ask these questions: are Americans humane? Is democracy merely an illusion and only offered to some? It is difficult not to empathize wit

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