rhetorical analysis of john lewis speech

Lesson Plans for Secondary Educators

John lewis, “ speech at the march on washington ” 28 august 1963.

High School Lesson Plan created for Voices of Democracy by Nicole Kennerly, Independent Educator

Click here for the VOD unit corresponding to this lesson plan.

Value for Teachers

By studying the life and times of John Lewis, one of the heroes of the American civil rights movement, we can better understand the convictions and experiences of civil rights activists at a critical historical and political moment in the 1960s.

The civil rights movement can sometimes be taught in a vacuum, addressing a few famous events but without tying them into a larger context. Lewis’s speech adds a layer of complexity to students’ appreciation for the tumult and protest of the era. With the March on Washington, civil rights leaders seized the opportunity to make an appeal to a nation sobered by widespread racial violence, especially in the South.

Lewis was only twenty-three years old at the time of this speech, and scholars have found his speech to be a compelling affirmation of grassroots civil rights activism. Students will gain an historical appreciation of the power of young people who are passionate and organized.

Relevant Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

• One of the distinguishing features of Lewis’s speech is its perspective: he gave a voice to the injustices and frustrations of grassroots workers and the local people who fought racism in countless communities across the South. Drawing from his first-hand experience growing up in the South, Lewis called for a massive campaign of nonviolent but direct action to bring down the systemic racial segregation and discrimination known as Jim Crow, especially in the South. He aimed to focus the nation’s attention on the struggle of millions of African Americans throughout the country for “jobs, dignity, and freedom.”

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

• In his speech, Lewis delivered a powerful indictment of racial injustice and politicians’ failure to address the nation’s chronic civil and human rights’ problems. Lewis called directly and specifically to cities in the South to organize and mobilize in non-violent protest. He demanded the federal government take effective and immediate action to deal with the national crisis of civil rights. Lewis also provided ample current and well-known examples of racial injustice ranging from violations of voting rights, to labor laws that discriminated against people of color, to the high rates of imprisonment and even death among people of color.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.3 : Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

• Lewis began his speech in a somber and non-celebratory tone despite the monumental occasion. Through a series of accounts of racial injustice, lack of legislative and judicial action, and stories of acute suffering throughout the South, he built an argument demanding rapid change and made an urgent call to action “without patience.”

Ideas for Pre-Reading

• Have students investigate Lewis’s involvement in the civil rights movement both before and after the 1963 March on Washington by reading his short biography on Encyclopedia Britannica Online here. Have students divide a sheet of paper into two columns and begin listing the principles, keywords, or phrases that (1) define Lewis’s life and career as a civil rights activist, and (2) identify the most significant causes and challenges he faced as a civil rights activist. (Examples of his causes include educational equity, voting rights, and economic justice.) After students complete the reading and columns individually, have them share their lists with a partner or group, asking each pair or group to then boil down their lists to three or four key themes in Lewis’s life and work and how they relate to the greater civil rights movement.
• Lewis was only twenty-three years old at the time of this speech, which took place at a critical time and at the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history. Lewis was included in the March on Washington program because of his grassroots leadership, yet parts of his message were censored because march leaders believed its tone was too angry and its message was too militant. Young people often are minimized or even marginalized in politics even though they are active at the grassroots level. In partners or table groups, have students discuss the following questions: (1) What made Lewis seem too radical or too militant to some organizers of the March on Washington? (2) Can you think of young leaders or activists today who face similar criticisms? After answering these two questions, reflect on why the experiences, messages, and ideas of young people are so often devalued when it comes to political matters. Do you think that is a problem in our society? (Note: Some teachers may benefit from starting with a brief description on the meaning of “grassroots” activism.) After the discussions, have a representative from each pair or group share their thoughts with the class.
• Show images and/or videos from the civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama. (Teachers may access the images and videos by googling “Birmingham Protests 1963.”) One example is this video from PBS. Violent retaliation against the civil disobedience demonstrators by law enforcement using police dogs and fire hoses capable of stripping the bark off trees helped expose the depths of Southern racism, and these specific scenes helped arouse the conscience of millions of white Americans.  In class, discuss how these images and videos make students feel, and why they think they had such an impact in 1963.
• As a class, listen to or watch a short excerpt from Lewis’s speech. How do students characterize Lewis’s delivery? Do they think it enhances or detracts from his message? How so?

Important Vocabulary/Figures

• Sharecroppers [para 1] : “Sharecropping is a system where the landlord allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop (instead of monetary payment).… High interest rates, unpredictable harvests, and unscrupulous landlords and merchants often kept tenant farm families severely indebted, requiring the debt to be carried over until the next year,” tying them to the land. Learn more at PBS.org.
• James Farmer [para 1] : Leader and Civil Rights activist who co-planned the March on Washington; advocate of nonviolent protest and leader of the Freedom Riders that resulted in desegregation of interstate transportation.
• SNCC [para 2] : Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, a grassroots organization that organized local communities to fight against racial injustice; dissolved in the 1970s.
• FEPC [para 4] : Fair Employment Practice Committee, responsible for banning discrimination in employment practices specifically related to defense.
• B. King and Slater King [para 6] : Pioneering African American attorney noted for his civil rights leadership and his son.
• Revolution of 1776 [para 8] : The American Revolution during which the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and began to form a new, independent nation based on “freedom for all.”

Key During Reading Passages and Discussion Questions

• Paragraph 1: Discuss with students the opening of Lewis’s speech. Who was the audience? What was the tone? What did Lewis mean when he said, “We march here today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of?” and, “We come here with a great sense of misgiving.” (Teacher’s Note: Unlike other speakers at the March on Washington, Lewis warned against self-satisfaction because the large event took protesters off the front lines of civil disobedience and grassroots activism in the South.)
• Paragraph 2: Lewis mentioned the federal government for the first time, referencing the administration’s civil rights bill. Why do students think that the bill was supported but with “great reservations?”
• Paragraphs 3-4: Who did Lewis reference most frequently during the body of his speech? Why do students think Lewis gave attention to everyday folks in the South as opposed to the more famous civil rights, labor, and religious organizers of the march itself? What does this say about Lewis and his priorities?
• Paragraphs 5: Here Lewis criticized the state of American politics and politicians. What shortcomings did Lewis focus on? How did he humanize the struggle for racial justice? Unlike other speakers at the march who spoke about how to strengthen the civil rights bill, Lewis pointed out many shortcomings of the bill and its failure to address the concrete suffering of millions of people through unfair incarceration and violence.
• Paragraphs 6-7: What did Lewis mean by, “Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march in the streets of Birmingham?” In Paragraph 7, Lewis’s tone changed. How so? How did he emphasize the urgency of his cause? Why might Lewis and other African Americans feel impatient? Do students think patience is a virtue or a problem in the demand for equal rights?
• Paragraphs 8-9: How did Lewis end the speech? The final section of the speech is a powerful rallying cry for nonviolent direct action in the South and across the country. How does the tone of the conclusion tie up Lewis’s main ideas of the speech and also Lewis’s point of view as someone who grew up in the South?

Suggested Timeline/Objectives

Day 1: Pre-reading & Introduction of Important Vocabulary/Figures

• Students will complete pre-reading of teacher’s or student’s choice.
• Teacher will introduce key terms of the speech.
• Students will read paragraphs 1-4.
• Students will assess how Lewis gave a voice to everyday people in the South and their injustices and struggle with systematic racism.

Day 2: A Call to Action of Civil Disobedience & Summing Up

• Students will read paragraphs 5-9.
• Students will analyze how Lewis made an urgent and powerful call to direct but nonviolent action to bring about change in the local and federal level to nationwide racial injustices.
• Students will complete post-reading of their or teacher’s choice.

Ideas for Post-Reading and Assessment

• The most famous speaker at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., was actually quite unpopular and polarizing the last years of his life, but today he ranks as one of the most admired individuals in U.S. history. Why do students think this is? Have them read one or both of the following articles to support their answer: 1) The Intercept   and 2) The Charlotte Observer
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 addressed one of the issues for which Lewis advocated in this speech: equal voting rights. Even today, the Justice Department investigates scores of voting rights cases every year. Visit the Voting Section homepage for the Civil Rights Division. What are the issues related to voter discrimination today? Have students choose one of those issues and write a short essay that raises public awareness and understanding about the problem.
• In 2008, members of Congress introduced legislation that purported to strengthen the civil rights guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill was never passed but it can be found online. Does this bill seem consistent with the fair labor and equal employment opportunity messages presented by Lewis at the March on Washington? How have civil rights issues and concerns changed since the March on Washington?

Contact Information

Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project Shawn J. Parry-Giles Department of Communication 2130 Skinner Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-7635

301-405-6527 spg@umd.edu

Questions/comments about the VOD website may be directed to Shawn Parry-Giles, University of Maryland

Web Accessibility Privacy Notice

• Newsletters

Site search

• Israel-Hamas war
• 2024 election
• Solar eclipse
• Supreme Court
• All explainers
• Future Perfect

Filed under:

6 John Lewis speeches key to understanding his work and legacy

The late congressman’s words chronicle his long and enduring fight for racial equality in America.

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: 6 John Lewis speeches key to understanding his work and legacy

John Lewis, who was born and raised in the Alabama Black Belt and served as a congressman from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District for almost 30 years, was an icon of the American civil rights movement. Through his involvement in pivotal fights for racial equality, from the Selma voting rights campaign, to sit-ins in Nashville, to the March on Washington, and the Freedom Rides, he came to embody both hope and the long struggle for freedom.

While Lewis is most known for his direct protests that actively countered racism and white supremacy, his speeches — from the March on Washington to the floor of the House of Representatives — also stand as markers of his courage and dedication.

Here are some of Lewis’s key speeches.

March on Washington (August 1963): “How long can we be patient? We want our freedom and we want it now.”

As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and one of the “Big Six” organizers of the March on Washington (alongside civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph), John Lewis, then 23, was the youngest person to speak at the historic March on Washington; before his death on July 17, 2020, he was the last living speaker.

Lewis wrote his speech in rejection of the Kennedy administration’s Civil Rights Bill of 1963, which he said was “too little too late” and failed to protect Black people against police brutality, among other ills. In the first draft, Lewis accused the Kennedy administration of siding with white supremacists; he planned to ask, “Which side is the federal government on?”

But this first draft of the speech was deemed too radical by the march’s other organizers. Lewis was also asked to remove a section in which he pledged to “burn Jim Crow to the ground” and “fragment the South into a thousand pieces,” reworking the speech to read, “We will march through the South [...] with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity we have shown here today.”

Lewis’s speech called for immediate freedom over gradual freedom: “To those who have said, ‘Be patient and wait,’ we have long said that we cannot be patient,” he told the crowd. “We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again.”

It also drew attention to the thousands of people who couldn’t attend the march because they were receiving “starvation wages or no wages at all.”

In 2018, Lewis reflected on his experience delivering the speech. He recalled that when he looked to his right he could see “hundreds and hundreds of young people who had been involved during the early days” and, when he looked ahead, he could see a “sea of humanity.” To his left he saw “young black men and young white men in the trees trying to get a better view.” At that moment, he said, he said to himself, “This is it.”

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law less than a year after the march.

Democratic National Convention (1988): “We are the party of inclusion”

During Lewis’s first term as a member of Congress, Atlanta was named the host city of the 1988 Democratic National Convention. It was Atlanta’s big moment in the political spotlight, and Lewis seized on the opportunity to call for unity inside and outside the Democratic Party.

He delivered a speech on the final night of the convention that called for the election of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. Lewis urged Democrats to return to their respective cities to build coalitions that speak to the needs of those who “have been left out and left behind.”

The remarks underscored Lewis’s position as a pioneering leader in the Democratic Party who would continue to fight for the most marginalized: “We have come a great distance since the 1960s,” he said in his remarks, which begin at 3:45 in the video above. “When we look across this convention hall it is self-evident that we are the party of inclusion. We are an iteration democracy. One people. One nation. One family, the American family.”

Defense of Marriage Act congressional debates (1996): “You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love”

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which prohibited the federal recognition of same-sex marriages for benefits like Social Security, insurance, and tax filing. The law defined marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” In debate over the legislation, Lewis argued against this definition, saying, “You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love.” The Supreme Court would later rule in 2013 that DOMA was unconstitutional.

Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis proclaimed, “Why don’t you want your fellow Americans to be happy? Why do you attack them? Why do you want to destroy the love they hold in their hearts? Why do you want to crush their hopes, their dreams [...]?”

MLK Memorial dedication (October 2006): “It is better to reconcile and not divide”

Lewis delivered a speech to celebrate the groundbreaking at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial — the first monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to honor the contributions of a Black American.

In his remarks, Lewis called King “one of the founding fathers of modern America.” He spoke about the first time he met King, the moment that inspired him to dedicate his life to the fight for civil rights:

“I will never forget the first time I met him,” Lewis said. “I was 15 years old and in the 10th grade in 1955, growing up on a farm outside Troy, Alabama, when I heard the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He was talking about the ability of a disciplined and determined people to make a difference in our society.”

Lewis said he hoped the monument to King served as a reminder that love prevails over hate and that “it is better to reconcile and not divide, it is better to build and not tear down” — and he emphasized that King’s dream had not yet been realized.

Selma 50th anniversary march (March 2015): “Get out there and push and pull, until we redeem the soul of America”

On the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis stood on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to remember the day he almost lost his life.

On March 7, 1965, Lewis, then 25, led more than 600 marchers across the bridge in Selma, Alabama, in an attempt to walk 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to reach Alabama Gov. George Wallace and demand voting rights. But at the end of the bridge, state troopers, some mounted on horseback, tear gassed the marchers and used clubs and whips to violently beat them.

“A few innocent children of God, some carrying only a bedroll, a few clutching a simple bag, a plain purse or a backpack, were inspired to walk 50 dangerous miles from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state of Alabama,” Lewis said. “On that day, on that day, 600 people marched into history, walking two by two down this sidewalk, not interfering with the free flow of trade and commerce, not interfering with traffic, with a kind of military discipline.”

In recalling the events, 50 years later , Lewis made it clear that he returned to Selma to be renewed, reminded, and inspired — because there is so much more to do.

“We must use this moment to recommit ourselves to do all we can to finish the work. There is still work left to be done. Get out there and push and pull until we redeem the soul of America,” he said.

In February 2020, Lewis, after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, would visit Selma once more to call the country to action. “We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize,” Lewis said. “We must go out and vote like we never ever voted before. Some people gave more than a little blood. Some gave their very lives.”

Impeachment hearings and vote (2019): “Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’”

Lewis was a leading voice calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. In a rousing speech on the House floor on September 24, 2019 , Lewis proclaimed that delaying the impeachment of Trump was a serious affront to democracy.

“Every turn this administration demonstrates disdain and disregard for the law and for the constitution. They have lied under oath. They refuse to account for their action and appear before the legislative body who have the constitutional right to inquire about their activities,” Lewis said in his speech.

Trump was officially impeached in the House in December 2019 .

When the House ultimately voted to impeach, Lewis’s speech exemplified why he was sometimes called the “conscience of Congress.” He said, “ When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something. ... Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’ For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”

Will you help keep Vox free for all?

At Vox, we believe that clarity is power, and that power shouldn’t only be available to those who can afford to pay. That’s why we keep our work free. Millions rely on Vox’s clear, high-quality journalism to understand the forces shaping today’s world. Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today.

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via

Next Up In Politics

Sign up for the newsletter today, explained.

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

Thanks for signing up!

Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

Vox podcasts tackle the Israel-Hamas war 

Nebraska legislators reject proposal to help Trump win the Electoral College

Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness saved a lot of lives — and prevented a catastrophe for the global tech economy

“Equivalent to having 50 Super Bowls”: The staggering — and lucrative — scale of eclipse tourism

Trump has set up a perfect avenue for potential corruption

She’s been chasing solar eclipses for three decades. What’s she after?

• remembrance

John Lewis’ March on Washington Speech Inspired a Generation. Here’s How He Recalled Its Impact to TIME

Rep. John Lewis , who died on Friday at the age of 80, made history when he delivered a speech at the 1963 March on Washington, an event that also included the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech by his mentor and friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Lewis spoke to TIME in 2013 for the 50th anniversary of the March, and said he vividly remembered being introduced to hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered for the historic March and were eager to hear from the 23-year-old who was quickly taking a leadership role in the civil rights movement .

“I stood up and I said to myself, ‘This is it,’” Lewis told TIME. “I looked straight out and I started speaking.”

At the time, Lewis was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was one of the major organizations during the civil rights movement. Their actions included participating in protests, sit-ins and many of the marches and campaigns during the fight for civil rights .

“Those of us in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee wanted the speech to speak for the hundreds of thousands of young people and people not so young that we were working within the horde of the Deep South,” Lewis said. “We prepared a speech that we thought reflected the feelings, the ideas of the people.”

Bob Zellner, who was then the field secretary for the SNCC, said the organization was likely the most militant out of all the organizations involved in the March — and there was pressure on Lewis to censor his comments.

“They wanted to temper that speech and we thought that it was the time not to temper the speech,” Zellner told TIME.

The speech starts with Lewis immediately telling people what the March is about. He also noted that many more people were not present because they were trapped working for “starvation wages.”

“While we stand here, there are sharecroppers in the Delta of Mississippi who are out in the fields working for less than three dollars a day, twelve hours a day,” Lewis said during his speech.

Lewis also criticized both parties during his speech, saying that neither one was helping the cause.

“Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to March on Washington?” Lewis implored at the time.

The speech also used the word “revolution.” Lewis remembered that some people were against the term, while others felt it was the right word for the moment.

“He talked about what was actually happening in the field,” Doris Derby, a volunteer with SNCC, told TIME. “People being beaten and the bombings…so he was talking about things that we knew about.”

While most of the speech was viewed as “radical” by many, Lewis felt it was the end of the speech that people really didn’t like.

Lewis recalled that he intended to end the speech by saying, “If we do not see meaningful progress here today the day will come when we will not confine our marching on Washington, but we will be forced to march through the South the way Sherman did — nonviolently.”

He was referring to ‘Sherman’s March to the Sea’, a Civil War march led by Union General William T. Sherman in 1864 in Savannah, GA. The goal of that march was to scare Georgia’s citizens and convince them to leave the Confederate cause.

“They [other volunteers] said ‘John, you can’t use that,’” Lewis recalled. “They said, ‘John, that doesn’t sound like you.’ That’s what Dr. King said.”

Lewis said he could not say no to Dr. King. “This man that I admired and loved. He was my inspiration, my hero.”

Ultimately, the ending of the speech was changed before Lewis delivered it.

“If we do not get meaningful legislation out of this Congress, the time will come when we will not confine our marching to Washington,” Lewis said in the conclusion of the speech. “We will march through the South through the streets of Jackson, through the streets of Danville, through the streets of Cambridge, through the streets of Birmingham. But we will march with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today.”

Correction, July 21

The original version of this story misstated the names of two civil rights activists. They are Bob Zellner and Doris Derby, not Zeller and Derry.

More Must-Reads From TIME

• Jane Fonda Champions Climate Action for Every Generation
• Passengers Are Flying up to 30 Hours to See Four Minutes of the Eclipse
• Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?
• Essay: The Complicated Dread of Early Spring
• Why Walking Isn’t Enough When It Comes to Exercise
• The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To
• The Best TV Shows to Watch on Peacock
• Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Write to Josiah Bates at [email protected]

You May Also Like

• Ethics & Leadership
• Fact-Checking
• Media Literacy
• The Craig Newmark Center
• Reporting & Editing
• Ethics & Trust
• Tech & Tools
• Business & Work
• Educators & Students
• Training Catalog
• Custom Teaching
• For ACES Members
• All Categories
• Broadcast & Visual Journalism
• Fact-Checking & Media Literacy
• In-newsroom
• Memphis, Tenn.
• Minneapolis, Minn.
• St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Washington, D.C.
• Poynter ACES Introductory Certificate in Editing
• Poynter ACES Intermediate Certificate in Editing
• Ethics & Trust Articles
• Get Ethics Advice
• Fact-Checking Articles
• International Fact-Checking Day
• Teen Fact-Checking Network
• International
• Media Literacy Training
• MediaWise Resources
• Ambassadors
• MediaWise in the News

Support responsible news and fact-based information today!

What I learned about writing from John Lewis

A close reading of the congressman and civil rights leader’s last words, published posthumously in the new york times on the day of his funeral..

John Lewis was not the same kind of orator as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or President Barack Obama. I know that’s setting a high standard. But Lewis was good enough to have spoken in 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the famous March on Washington. And he was good enough to have inspired millions in countless addresses on racial justice and voting rights both as a civil rights icon and a congressman.

Oratory has a way of magnifying rhetorical effects. That’s why I keep my eyes and ears on how good speeches are written and delivered. Readers and writers seem to connect with such close readings, whether the speakers are Lincoln , King , the Obamas , the late pro wrestler Dusty Rhodes , or the young Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg .

I have also written about eulogies and other “final words” as a special genre of reading and writing. I am about to do that again with the final written words of John Lewis. Shortly before his death on July 17, he wrote a column for The New York Times and asked that it be published on the day of his funeral, July 30.

How theatrical of John Lewis. I use that word, “theatrical,” with only its most positive connotations. Lewis’s entire life was a kind of theater, at least as he describes it in various versions of his life story, especially his graphic-novel-style trilogy “March.”

We learn that when he was a boy who lived on a tiny piece of farm in Troy, Alabama, he preached to the chickens as he was feeding them in imitation of the ministers he heard in church and on the radio. If the chickens didn’t pay sufficient attention, they wouldn’t get fed. How theatrical is that?

Nonviolent protests — at lunch counters, on the buses of Freedom Riders, marching for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge — each of these are now seen as vast narratives of freedom, a kind of serialized morality play in which young nonviolent activists risked their lives while their oppressors wielded clubs.

There is something in the law — at least in the televised theater of the law — that we call the “deathbed confession.” In stories, this has a special weight, the truth coming from someone ready to finally reveal a truth, settle a score, or meet their Maker.

If you have not yet read the final column of John Lewis, you can read it here . If you prefer, read it in sections below, followed by my commentary.

Let’s begin with the headline and sub-headline:

Together, You Can Redeem the Soul Of Our Nation Though I am gone, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.

What impresses me is how direct these two sentences are. Headlines can plant all kinds of clues for the reader on what is coming. Some tease the reader with indirection. Not here. These words so capture the heart of Lewis’ message that they could appear on a mural with his image.

In English, we talk about the “numbers” in pronouns. First person singular (I, me). Third person plural (they, them). In modern English, the second person singular and plural are represented by the same word (you). (Interesting exceptions are regional dialects — y’all in the South, youse in some parts of the North.) There is a sense of the collective in the word “together.” But that plural sense in “You” and “Our” transforms into the singular when he speaks in the first person: “Though I am gone I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart.”

Perhaps that rhetorical move comes from church. The pastor speaks to the multitudes but encourages each congregant toward a personal conversion of the heart.

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world, you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

Rabbi and author Harold Kushner once wrote that if you did not believe in a supernatural afterlife, there were human ways you could achieve an expression of immortality. You could have a child; you could plant a tree; or you could write a book. The legacy of John Lewis will endure for as long as there is American history. But even in the immediate aftermath of his passing, his words have a living, breathing presence. He’s dead, but very much alive.

I often teach this writing move I learned from the work of S.I. Hayakawa: that words exist on a ladder. At the top, the words are about ideas. At the bottom, words are about things. At the top telling; at the bottom showing. At the top conclusions; at the bottom evidence.

As a leader of a movement, Lewis’s life has been about abstractions: Freedom, Justice, Equality, Tolerance, Nonviolence. Those words inspire. But the reader wants to see as well as understand. So, yes, we embrace, for now, words like race, class, language, nationality, respect and human dignity. But we hunger for the specific, the particular. Lewis’s cracked skull is no abstraction.

That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on. Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

In this passage, Lewis descends the ladder of abstraction into the world of places and names. It is not about the “you” now, but the “I.” Days before his death, Lewis is still in action, visiting another symbolic place, the plaza where Black Lives Matter is a street-level mural.

More grounding comes in the litany of names — all martyrs in the struggle for racial justice. Perhaps the most powerful sentence in the column is one of the shortest: “Emmett Till was my George Floyd.” The perfect balance of that sentence serves as a bridge of time — linking one generation of outrage with another. Writers know that move: to place your most memorable thought in your shortest sentence.

One other phrase deserves attention: “… after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.” I often judge a writer’s voice by his or her backup singers, the sources of allusion. Suddenly, at the end of a paragraph we hear echoes of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the sacred song of the anti-slavery forces in the Civil War.

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

The scope of this paragraph is quite remarkable. It begins with another first-person reflection on his family and personal experience of oppression, only to morph kaleidoscopically into an inventory of racial crimes and atrocities. Lewis sees his personal experience as a brotherhood and sisterhood of all who have suffered racial violence since his childhood — right up to the present moment.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Lewis is writing a column, not a story. But narrative elements are so powerful, they can in an instant transport us to another time or place, so we are right there with a young John Lewis hearing the voice of Dr. King on an old radio.

Notice the length of the sentences in this paragraph. The first sentence is 34 words. The last is 29. But look at the ones in between: 10, 10, 15, 17, 12, 4, 5. With the shortening of sentences, Lewis is slowing the pace of his message. Each period is a stop sign. A preacher uses that rhetorical strategy to deliver the most important lesson: “You must do something.”

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it. You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

John Lewis does something here that all veteran writers and teachers do at one time or another: He quotes himself. Numerous times — once in person — I have heard him use the phrase “good trouble, necessary trouble.” It is fair to call it a catchphrase. Its effectiveness is made manifest by how often in recent days we have seen “good trouble” on banners, placards, T-shirts, and even medical masks.

Repeated slogans can be used viciously — we don’t have to search far for examples. But used with righteous intent, they can memorialize a hero and inspire a movement.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

In this final passage, we get not just backup singers, but the whole choir. It begins, movingly enough, with an echo of Dr. King, “I may not get there with you,” an intimation of the assassination that would come soon after he uttered those words. Dr. King appears again with the phrase “let freedom ring” — itself an echo of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” — repeated in harmonic counterpoints at the end of the “I Have a Dream Speech” in 1963. Lewis would be the last living speaker at that great event.

In his encouragement of “walk with the wind,” we find an allusion to the title of his own autobiography. The phrase connects to an oft-repeated childhood memory. Lewis was visiting his cousins at a fragile house being buffeted by a violent windstorm. The storm threatened to tear up the house until his aunt gathered the children to march across the floor holding the structure down.

It survives as a metaphor for our nation’s current circumstances. Lewis understood this to his last breath.

Writing lessons from John Lewis:

• Use “I” to speak from the heart. Use “you” to engage the other. Use “we” to convey community.
• Inspire us with idea words, but help us see the thing itself.
• Echo the words of others to sing in harmony behind you.
• Place your best thought in the shortest sentence.
• Plant story elements, no matter how brief.
• Match your language skills to a noble cause.
• Keep writing until the end. Then remember: There is no end. The struggle goes on.

Roy Peter Clark teaches writing at Poynter. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @RoyPeterClark.

Opinion | What’s next for Disney and CEO Bob Iger after a record-breakingly expensive corporate proxy fight?

Iger’s current contract runs through 2026. Then what?

Opinion | Why health fact-checking is still important

It’s not just COVID — it’s measles, HPV, fake cures and more

Opinion | We need spin-checking in addition to fact-checking

Fact-checkers can also deconstruct political narratives to help the public

AI can help fact-checking. We’ve already seen it

In India, fact-checkers are using AI and high-quality datasets to surface the best evidence in countering misinformation.

How Elon Musk has amplified falsehoods about immigration and voting

In the last three months, Musk has flooded X with dozens of posts that speak to a conspiracy theory about Democrats using immigrants to grab power

Start your day informed and inspired.

Get the Poynter newsletter that's right for you.

John Lewis Speech Transcript at the March on Washington

On August 28, 1963, John Lewis gave a speech at age 23 at the March on Washington. He was the youngest person to speak at the historic event and went on to serve as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

John Lewis: ( 00:16 ) We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of, for hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here. For they are receiving starvation wages or no wages at all. While we stand here, there are sharecroppers in the Delta of Mississippi who are out in the fields working for less than three dollars a day, 12 hours a day. While we stand here, there are students in jail on trumped-up charges. Our brother James Farmer, along with many others, is also in jail. We come here today with a great sense of misgiving. It is true that we support the administration’s Civil Rights Bill. We support it with reservation, however.

John Lewis: ( 01:19 ) Unless Title Three is put in this bill, there’s nothing to protect the young children and old women who must face police dogs and fire hoses in the South while they engage in peaceful demonstration. In its present form this bill will not protect the citizens of Danville, Virginia, who must live in constant fear of a police state. It will not protect the hundreds and thousands of people that have been arrested upon trumped charges. What about the three young men, SNCC field secretaries in Americus, Georgia, who face the death penalty for engaging in peaceful protest?

John Lewis: ( 02:02 ) As it stands now, the voting section of this bill will not help the thousands of blind people who want to vote. It will not help the citizens of Mississippi, of Alabama, and Georgia, who are qualified to vote for lack of sixth grade education. “One man, one vote,” is the African cry. It is ours too. It must be ours. We must have legislation that will protect the Mississippi sharecroppers, who was put off of his farm because he dared to register to vote. We need a bill that will provide for the homeless and starving people of this nation. We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns five dollars a week in the home of a family whose total income is $100,000 a year. We must have a good FEPC bill.

John Lewis: ( 03:01 ) My friends, let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution. By and large American politics is dominated by politicians who build their career on immoral compromise and allow themselves an open forum of political, economic, and social exploitation. There are exceptions, of course. We salute those. But what political leader can stand up and say, “My party is a party of principles,”? For the party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. Where is our party? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march on Washington? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march in the streets of Birmingham? Where is the political party that will protect the citizens of Albany, Georgia?

John Lewis: ( 04:04 ) Did you know that in Albany, Georgia nine of our leaders have been indicted, not by the Dixiecrats, but by the federal government for peaceful protest? But what did the federal government do when Albany deputy sheriff beat Attorney C.B. King and left him half dead? What did the federal government do when local police officials kicked and assaulted the pregnant wife of Slater King and she lost her baby? To those that have said, “Be patient and wait,” we must say that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now. We are tired, we are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again, and then you holler, “Be patient.” How long can we be patient? We want our freedom, and we want it now.

John Lewis: ( 05:13 ) We do not want to go to jail, but we will go to jail if this is the price we must pay for love, brotherhood, and true peace. I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the Revolution of 1776 is complete. We must get in this Revolution, and complete the Revolution. For in the Delta of Mississippi, in Southwest Georgia, in the Black Belt of Alabama, in Harlem, in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and all over this nation the black masses are on the march for jobs and freedom.

John Lewis: ( 06:05 ) They’re talking about, “Slow down and stop.” We will not stop. All of the forces of Eastland, Barnett, Wallace, and Thurmond will not stop this revolution. If we do not get meaningful legislation out of this Congress, the time will come when we will not confine our march into Washington. We will march through the South, through the streets of Jackson, through the streets of Danville, through the streets of Cambridge, through the streets of Birmingham. But we will march with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today. By the forces of our demands, our determination, and our numbers, we shall send a desegregated South into a thousand pieces, and put them together in the image of God and democracy. We must say, “Wake up, America! Wake up! For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient.”

Transcribe Your Own Content Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling.

Other Related Transcripts

Stay updated.

Get a weekly digest of the week’s most important transcripts in your inbox. It’s the news, without the news.

Analyzing the Rhetoric of JFK's Inaugural Address

About this resource.

Download this lesson plan , including handouts, in pdf format.

Topics: Persuasive Writing and Speaking; Campaign, Election and Inauguration; Cold War

Grade Level: 9-12

Subject Areas: English Language Arts; US History

Time Required: 1-2 hours

Goals/Rationale

An inaugural address is a speech for a very specific event—being sworn into the office of the presidency.  The speeches of modern presidents share some commonalities in referencing American history, the importance of the occasion, and hope for the future. Each president, however, has faced the particular challenges of his time and put his own distinctive rhetorical stamp on the address.

In the course of writing this address, John F. Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen, his advisor and main speechwriter, asked for and received suggestions from advisors and colleagues. ( See the telegram from Ted Sorensen dated December 23, 1960 here .) In his delivered speech, Kennedy included several sections of text provided by both John Kenneth Galbraith, an economics professor at Harvard University and Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois and Democratic presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956.

In this lesson plan, students consider the rhetorical devices in the address JFK delivered on January 20, 1961. They then analyze the suggestions made by Galbraith and Stevenson and compare them to the delivered version of the speech. Students then evaluate the impact of the changes on the resonance of the speech.

Essential Question:  How can the use of rhetorical devices enhance a speech?

Students will:

• identify rhetorical terms and methods.
• examine the rhetorical devices of JFK’s Inaugural Address .
• analyze the effects of the rhetorical devices on the delivered speech.

Preparation

Historical Background and Context

On January 20, 1961, a clerk of the US Supreme Court held the large Fitzgerald family Bible as John F. Kennedy took the oath of office to become the nation’s 35th president.  Against a backdrop of deep snow and sunshine, more than twenty thousand people huddled in 20-degree temperatures on the east front of the Capitol to witness the event. Kennedy, having removed his topcoat and projecting both youth and vigor, delivered what has become a landmark inaugural address.

His audience reached far beyond those gathered before him to people around the world. In preparing for this moment, he sought both to inspire the nation and to send a message abroad signaling the challenges of the Cold War and his hope for peace in the nuclear age. He also wanted to be brief. As he’d remarked to his close advisor, Ted Sorensen, “I don’t want people to think I’m a windbag.”

He assigned Sorensen the task of studying other inaugural speeches and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to glean the secrets of successful addresses. The finely-crafted delivered speech had been revised and reworked numerous times by Kennedy and Sorensen until the President-elect was satisfied. Though not the shortest of inaugural addresses, Kennedy’s was shorter than most at 1,355 words in length and, like Lincoln’s famous speech, was comprised of short phrases and words. In addition to message, word choice and length, he recognized that captivating his audience required a powerful delivery. On the day before and on the morning of Inauguration Day, he kept a copy handy to take advantage of any spare moment to review it, even at the breakfast table.

What many consider to be the most memorable and enduring section of the speech came towards the end when Kennedy called on all Americans to commit themselves to service and sacrifice: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. He then continued by addressing his international audience: “My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Having won the election by one of the smallest popular vote margins in history, Kennedy had known the great importance of this speech. People who witnessed the speech or heard it broadcast over television and radio lauded the new President. Even elementary school children wrote to him with their reactions to his ideas. Following his inaugural address, nearly seventy-five percent of Americans expressed approval of President Kennedy.

(all included in the  downloadable pdf )

• Handout:  Poetry and Power:   John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
• Reading copy of JFK’s Inaugural Address
• Handout:  Rhetorical Terms and Techniques of Persuasion
• Chart:  Excerpts from Inaugural Suggestions and Delivered Speech
• Have students read  Poetry and Power: John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address  to provide them with background information about the speech.
• Have students read through the text of  JFK’s inaugural address  as they listen to his speech.
• Provide students with the  Rhetorical Terms   and Techniques of Persuasion  handout and review the terminology of rhetorical methods.
• Have students mark up the speech, noting where the specific rhetorical methods occur.
• “[S]hort speeches, short clauses and short words, wherever possible.” (Sorensen,  Kennedy , 60).
• “The test of a text was not how it appeared to the eye but how it sounded to the ear” (Sorensen,  Kennedy , 61).
• “He liked to be exact. But if the situation required a certain vagueness, he would deliberately choose a word of varying interpretations rather than bury his imprecision in ponderous prose.” (Sorensen,  Kennedy , 61).
• “The intellectual level of his speeches showed erudition but not arrogance.” (Sorensen,  Kennedy , 62).
• Explain that for many of his key speeches, Kennedy turned to several advisors for their suggestions on content.
• Provide students with the chart  Excerpts from Inaugural Suggestions and Delivered Speech  that shows excerpts of suggestions for the speech provided by Adlai Stevenson and John Kenneth Galbraith that were included in the delivered speech—and the revisions made to these excerpts for the delivered speech.
• Discuss with the class the changes made by Sorensen and Kennedy to the original suggested excerpts from Galbraith and Stevenson.
• Have students write a 2-3 page paper, responding to the question:  “In what ways did the additional rhetorical devices strengthen or weaken the passages in the earlier suggestions? Provide specific examples. What other improvements do you note between the suggestions provided by Galbraith and Stevenson and the delivered version of the speech? How might Kennedy’s preferences in speechwriting have influenced the changes from the suggested language to the delivered version of the speech? 
• Have students choose 2-3 passages from the speech and provide their own text showing how they might improve upon the delivered passages, keeping in mind the rhetorical techniques they have studied. When they are done, have the class read through the rewritten speech in a “jigsaw,” with students providing their version of the passages in place of Kennedy’s text.

Connections to Curriculum (Standards)

National History Standards -  US History, Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

• Standard 3: Domestic policies after World War II

Common Core State Standards

• ELA College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language
• ELA – Reading Informational Texts, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Literacy in History/Social Studies for grades 9-10 and 11-12

National Council of Teachers of English : Standards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework

• USII.T3  - Defending democracy: responses to fascism and communism

Massachusetts English Language Arts Framework

• Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language

Sorensen, Theodore C.  Kennedy.  New York:   Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965.

Tofel, Richard J.  Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address . Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 2005.