The signers of the United States Constitution recognized the power of rhetorical activism when they declared freedom of expression the most important right of United States citizens. Susan B. Anthony and dozens of other women spent eight decades using the only power they had, the power of language, to ensure women their right to vote in this country. The persuasive eloquence of Martin Luther King, Jr. changed this nation's consciousness as well as the experience of civil rights for all of its citizens. And although the United States did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, people like Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan forever altered the expectations and opportunities for women and men. How did these ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things by speaking up and speaking out? More broadly, how does our language define, sustain, reform, and even revolutionize the worlds in which we live? That will be our central question as we study texts representing a range of positions from several U.S. civil rights movements: the early woman's rights, antislavery, women's liberation, 1960s civil rights, and gay rights movements. Work for this course includes weekly readings (hard copy and online), exams, and quizzes. This course satisfies the Race and Ethnicity requirement for LS&A students as well as the New Traditions and American Literature requirements for English concentrators.

I will not make any adjustments to the class roster (i.e., oversubscribe or drop students) until after the second class meeting. At that point, I will automatically drop any student who has not attended both of the first two classes. After the second class, if there are spaces available I will authorize students who have been attending class and who are on the waitlist to register for the course until the course has again met its maximum capacity (please note that attending class and/or being on the waitlist does not guarantee you a seat in the course).  I am sorry, but there are no exceptions to this policy. Please do not email me requesting an exception.

There are no textbooks for this course. A set of course readings will be available for you to purchase at the end of August.