Running head: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 1

Rhetorical Analysis of Bigger than a Hamburger by Ella J. Baker

Jacob J Morales

The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract

Ella Baker was born in Norfolk, Virginia on December 13, 1903. She was raised in North

Carolina. She was very close with her grandmother from whom she learned the sad cruelty of her

life as a slave. She grows up to be a very smart and promising lady. She devoted her time in

advocating for civil rights were she went helping many organizations. On her path of fighting for

civil rights she decides to encourage young students to stand up and join the cause. Before she

connives students to join the fight, she gives a speech where she states that civil rights is

something they need to have and it is really important. She uses Ethos, Pathos, And Logos to get

her point across.

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In Ella Bakers Bigger than a Hamburger she uses rhetorical devices to persuade students

to become part of the civil rights movement in a passive way. It is quite interesting that this

speech was what kindled students to be a part of Freedom Riders and to go to the south in order

to sign up African Americans to vote.

Ella Baker was born in Norfolk, Virginia on December 13, 1903. She was raised in North

Carolina. She was very close with her grandmother from whom she learned the sad cruelty of her

life as a slave. Baker, a promising student graduated from Shaw University as class valedictorian

and eventually moved to New York City. As she was struggling to make ends meet she

contributed in forming the Young Negroes Cooperative League which was a way for members

to invests in order to get good deals in goods and services. By 1940 she became a field secretary

for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, where she traveled to raise

funds and recruit members for the organization. She was eventually promoted to national director

of branches but decided to resign because she believed it required too much traveling. After

resigning from the NAACP, Baker continued to contribute too many organizations by either

being a member or providing help but most importantly she joined the Southern Christian

Leadership Conference where she was appointed executive director by request of Martin Luther
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King Jr. In her time in the SCLC she set up the event that led up to the founding of the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960 which leads us to the Student Leadership

Conference.

When Ella Baker was still the director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

she helped set up the first meeting for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee because

she believed that the movement Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was conducting wasnt really

engaging with the youth. In her speech she encourages the youth that want a change to view

Kings principle of nonaggression as a political tactic. This influenced the youth to participate in

Freedom Rides and to go to the South to encourage African Americans to vote.

When persuading someone or a group it is so easy to appeal to the feelings because its

an easy hook and in this speech we can see that Baker uses pathos to reach her audience.

However hopeful might be the signs in the direction of group-centeredness, the fact that

many schools and communities, especially in the South, have not provided adequate experience

for young Negroes to assume initiative and think and act independently accentuated the need for

guarding the student movement against well-meaning, but nevertheless unhealthy, over-

protectiveness. Here is an opportunity for adults and youth to work together and provide genuine

leadership. (Baker, E. J. 1960, April. Bigger than a Hamburger. p. #4).

This quote helps Baker stir up feelings in the youth by basically saying that it is enough

on waiting, that they should as well take part in this fight to obtain basic civil rights. She goes on

by stating that theyve been told that adults will handle it but they really havent seen any results

so they must rise and work with the adults to obtain those rights.
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Another rhetorical device that Baker uses is Ethos to persuade students to stand up for

their rights. The Student Leadership Conference made it crystal clear that current sit-ins and

other demonstrations are concerned with something much bigger than a hamburger or even a

giant-sized coke. (Baker, E. J. 1960, April. Bigger than a Hamburger. p. #1). This gives the

speech more credibility by stating that an organization has the same believes as the youth does. It

also gives it more credibility by knowing that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is part of this

organization and he had been an active civil rights leader.

Lastly Ella Baker uses Logos to give common sense to the audience. It is important to

keep the movement democratic and to avoid struggles for personal leadership. (Baker, E. J.

1960, April. Bigger than a Hamburger. p. #3). By stating this it really helps convey that Baker

wants the youth to be a part of the movement but to make sure to keep it passive. It serves as a

reminder that theyre not the only ones fighting for rights and that the movement shouldnt

become selfish.

Overall Bakers exigence and constraints were that she wanted students to be part of the

movement but she wanted it to be nonaggressive. Her speech truly helps convey what she wants.

She uses Pathos, Logos, and Ethos to persuade the students to become part of the movement.
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References

Baker, E. J. (1960, April). Bigger than a Hamburger. Speech, Raleigh, NC.

Ella Baker. (2014, July 08). Retrieved October 16, 2017, from

https://www.biography.com/people/ella-baker-9195848

History.com Staff. (2009). SNCC. Retrieved October 16, 2017, from

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sncc