Rhetoric Society Quarterly Jan 2014

Winifred Black's Teacherly Ethos: The Role of Journalism in Late-Nineteenth-century Rhetorical Education

Grace Wetzel Saint Joseph's University

Abstract

This essay recovers the rhetorical career of San Francisco Examiner journalist Winifred Black to demonstrate how professional journalists used late-nineteenth-century newspapers for rhetorical education and social change. I analyze two campaigns—the “Orphan's Santa Claus” and the “Little Jim” crusade—to demonstrate how Winifred Black constructs a persuasive ethos capable of inspiring the writing and social action efforts of male and female children from various socioeconomic classes. Specifically, Black revises the rhetorical tradition of the “stunt girl reporter” in order to craft a teacherly ethos anchored in a “symbolic motherhood”—an effective rhetorical strategy due to close cultural links between teaching and mothering. Combined with aspects of what Karlyn Kohrs Campbell terms a “feminine style,” this ethos allows Black to promote not merely social change, but a particular kind of rhetorical education that: (1) privileges moral principles over grammatical and mechanical correctness and (2) blurs gender and class lines.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2014-01-01
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2013.861008
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Topics
rhetorical criticism teacher development argument gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Proszak (2021)
    Products of US Performance: A Material Rhetorical Education at North Bennet Str…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly

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