Tuskegee University was founded in 1881 by Booker Washington. The University has a rich history and a great legacy. 9 May 2015, the First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a Commencement Speech to the 2015 Tuskegee graduates. By her speech, Michelle Obama honors the distinguished Tuskegee alumni and encourages the students to overcome the obstacles on the way to achievements and be true to themselves. The endorsement of the speech by the public and the positive response of the university’s audience make it clear that the First Lady speech in the Commencement Address was a success, which in its turn proves the adequate and appropriate choice of means and media for the speech formation.
While writing a text, one needs to take into consideration the rhetorical context: purpose, audience, and genre (Bean, Chappell and Gillam 18). The consideration of the rhetorical context supports the creation of a more successful writings. These three contextual elements are the basis for the text structure. By analyzing the textual elements and structure, it is possible to understand the author’s initial intentions and goals, which underlie in the written text.
The First Lady’s speech starts with the greetings and recognition of the Tuskegee University alumni, the staff, students and all the other people gathered in the audience. The address continues with the historical reflections and the recognition of the civil rights issues that the people had to encounter in the recent past in the USA. These issues are the racism, discrimination, social exclusion, and mistreatment that the African Americans were exposed to. The reflections were followed by the description of the cases from the personal experience of the First Lady. Michelle Obama mentioned about the difficulties she experienced on the way to becoming the First Lady. Proceeding from this, she made a conclusion about the importance of belief and trust to oneself, the significance of being brave enough to choose your own way in life (“Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address” par. 39).
The consideration of the audience receiving a text is essential. According to the audience, its experience, expectations and knowledge the author must choose the means of expression. The style and the text’s subject are also interdependent with the audience (Bean, Chappell and Gillam 21).
Tuskegee University’s audience primarily consists of students and professors. Moreover, Tuskegee University is “a historically black university”, and the university’s audience consists primarily of the African American students and staff (Hudson 1).
The main subject of the speech made by the First Lady Michelle Obama is the injustice towards the African Americans that often occurred in the recent past in the USA. She also highlighted that the people like Booker Washington, Charles DeBow, and George Washington Carver faced tremendous challenges and stressful situations, but they overcame them and achieved their goals despite all the hindrances (“Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address” par. 19). The subject is strategically efficient, and it depicts that the author had a deep understanding of the contextual situation and took into account the expectations and the background of the audience.
The African American community is united by the history and especially by some unfortunate historical episodes: slavery, racism, humiliation and social inequality. There are also many striking examples of the immense injustice overcoming and achieving the high goals in the history of the USA and particularly, at Tuskegee University. Michelle Obama claims that the university’s history “is the story of rising hopes and fortunes for all African Americans” (“Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address” par. 22). For the African Americans this subject is highly compelling because they share the common heritage and are perceptive to it. They share the common context that is perceived by each member of the African American community alike.
It is worth noticing the point of view Michelle Obama stands upon in her speech. She identifies herself with everything she says in her address. She describes her life experience in a link to the main subject of challenges, social exclusion, and mistreatment. This approach is helpful in the creation of the positive response in the auditorium. In this case, Michelle Obama’s experience intermediates with the audience and the historical background described in the body of the speech, creating the cohesive, interdependent and holistic image. In the wake, the First Lady’s perspective and her personality were warmly welcomed by the audience of Tuskegee University.
Sharing personal experience is also crucial when addressing to the graduates. For the students, who are just at the very start of their mature life, it is extremely important to communicate with and to receive the messages from a person who is undoubtedly successful, whom they can identify themselves with. The young people need the real examples of success. In this case, the First Lady plays the role of mentor, who can direct the graduates and encourage them.
The methods of addressing to the young generation used in the speech are also very skillful and effective. Michelle Obama calls for sticking to the personal individuality. “I want you all to stay true to the most real, most sincere, most authentic parts of yourselves” (“Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address” par. 19). The statements made by Michelle Obama are inspiring and appealing to a majority of the young people.
The genre of the public speech, especially the one that is supposed to be delivered in the governmental or the public institutions, requires a particular organization. The composition of the speech doesn’t always need to follow the strict rules; nonetheless it must have certain structure that consists of introduction, the main body of the message, and conclusion. This consistent kind of structure is easy for the listener to follow and comprehend. The structural parts should have cohesion and should gradually flow into each other (Bean, Chappell and Gillam 27).
The successful speech also requires the certain strategies and the appropriate language use. The language in the First Lady’s speech is formal. Nevertheless, her voice tone is not too official. It helps her to prepossess the audience and to deliver the meaning of her message entirely. As it was mentioned above, the subjects of the speech play a crucial role in its strategic planning. The subjects are woven into the situational context, they are relevant, and, therefore, they bring success.
Writing may have various purposes: entertainment, informing, persuading, etc. The main purposes of the speech delivered by the First Lady Michelle Obama at Tuskegee University are exhortation and inspiration of the current graduates. The secondary purpose is communication and informing. The main purpose is a basis for the whole text structure and shape.
Through delivering the message about the importance of making your own choices in life, Michelle Obama encourages and counsels the graduates. Along with this, she reports information about the discrimination of the African Americans in the 20th centuries and also tells about the great deeds they managed to accomplish despite the frustrating conditions. This informational part of the speech affirms its inspirational part and serves as a proof of it. The part of the speech in which the First Lady tells about the personal experience fulfills the communicative function of the speech. The description of the personal experience creates a bond with the audience. It supports involvement in the speech and the overall contextual situation, provides the mutual empathy and helps to strengthen and consolidate the psychological impact.
The efficiency of the public speech depends on the multiple factors, which are basically should be considered by the author beforehand. Purposes, audience, genre, and style are the starting points for the text composition, and they constitute the interdependent structure.
The speech made by the First Lady Michelle Obama at Tuskegee University Commencement Address can be considered success. Through analysis, it was shown that the means, the methods, and the strategies implemented while preparing and delivering speech were appropriate for the current situation. The author did research on the contexts and revealed the deep understanding of the audience’s background and expectations. In addition, the friendly and relatively loose style of speaking, mild yet confident tone of voice and the bright personality of the First Lady all together affected the audience extremely well.
Works Cited
Bean, John, Virginia Chappell and Alice Gillam. Reading Rhetorically, New York: Pearson, 2014. Print.
Hudson, David 2015. In Case You Missed It: The First Lady’s Powerful Remarks to Tuskegee University’s Class of 2015. Web.
Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address 2015. Web.