Amplification by Counterstory in the Quantitative Rhetoric of Ida B. Wells

Rhetoric Society Quarterly Aug 2021

Amplification by Counterstory in the Quantitative Rhetoric of Ida B. Wells

Daniel Libertz Baruch College

Abstract

Ida B. Wells uses what critical race theorists call counterstory to expose contradictions in majoritarian assumptions about race in her statistical rhetoric. By using rhetorically forceful characteristics of the African American Verbal Tradition in counterstories about the victims of lynching, Wells leverages embodiment and emotion to amplify statistics of lynching. This essay examines the rhetorical properties of different versions of statistics of Black victims of lynchings from 1883 to 1891 that Wells used in the early 1890s to show how Wells’s approach to amplification in quantitative rhetoric honors and advocates for the people that can make up a statistic.

Journal: Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published: 2021-08-08
DOI: 10.1080/02773945.2021.1947514
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

Libertz et al. (2026)

Speeding Up and Slowing Down Public Quantitative Writing

Written Communication
Howard (2024)

“It’s Just Business”: Michael Jackson’s Purchase of the Beatles Catalog as Coun…

Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Vega (2023)

Amplifying Autogestión and Cultural Rhetorics of Resistance

College Composition and Communication

Cites in this index (2)

Williams-Farrier (2017)

“Talkin’ bout Good & Bad” Pedagogies: Code-Switching vs. Comparative Rhetor…

College Composition and Communication
Wolfe (2010)

Rhetorical Numbers: A Case for Quantitative Writing in the Composition Classroom

College Composition and Communication

Also cites 12 works outside this index ↓

10.1080/01419870.2017.1334934

↗
10.7551/mitpress/11805.001.0001

↗
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764129.001.0001

↗
10.1080/13613324.2017.1377675

↗
Goddu Teresa A. (2009)

10.1353/bh.0.0017

Book History ↗
10.7208/chicago/9780226791982.001.0001

↗
10.2307/j.ctvgs08j3

↗
10.1515/9781400821617

↗
Schwartz Gabriel L. (2020)

10.1371/journal.pone.0229686

PLOS ONE ↗
Silkey Sarah L. (2015)

Black Woman Reformer: Ida B. Wells, Lynching, & Transatlantic Activism

↗
Skouen Tina (2015)

Rhetoric and the Early Royal Society: A Sourcebook

↗
Slovic Paul (2007)

10.1017/S1930297500000061

Judgment and Decision Making ↗

CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network →