"Memories of 1963 in the 2008 Presidential Election: Barack Obama and the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement"
Thursday, October 16, 12:00PM - 2:00PM
Weisman Art Museum.
Presented by Professor Kirt H. Wilson
The 2008 election season has witnessed the return of the oratorical presidential candidate in the form of Barack Obama. The content, style, and impact of his speeches have inspired some to compare his rhetoric with that of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In his presentation, Wilson examines how Obama builds upon the civil rights traditions of speech performance, how Obama's speeches sustain a particular memory of the civil rights movement, and how his rhetoric creates political "change" in the present.
