College Composition and Communication Dec 2003

Nothing Educates Us Like a Shock: The Integrated Rhetoric of Melvin B. Tolson

David Gold

Abstract

This essay examines the pedagogical practices of the poet, civil rights activist, andteacher Melvin B. Tolson who taught at Wiley College from 1923 to 1947. Tolson’s complex classroom style, which mixed elements of classical, African American, and current-traditional rhetoric, produced a pedagogy that was at once conservative, progressive, and radical, inspiring his students to academic achievement and social action. Tolson demonstrates that it is possible to instruct students in the norms of the academy without sacrificing their home voices or identities.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2003-12-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc20032743
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Topics
rhetorical criticism composition theory writing pedagogy race and writing
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