Rhetoric Society Quarterly Dec 2006

Black Women Writers and the Trouble withEthos: Harriet Jacobs, Billie Holiday, and Sister Souljah

Coretta Pittman

Abstract

The assumption that black women lack a positive and respectable ethos is a historical and contemporary problem. To address the problem with ethos, I turn to Aristotle's Rhetoric to foreground an analysis of ethos. Then I examine Harriet Jacobs's slave narrative and the autobiography of Billie Holiday and Sister Souljah, respectively, to illustrate the difficulty they faced as they attempted to redefine an ethos of immorality to an ethos of respectability in their narratives. As each text demonstrates, acquiring a positive ethos becomes problematic given that a classical model such as Aristotle's excludes their lived realities and experiences as black women living in a slave and post-slavery society.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2006-12-15
DOI
10.1080/02773940600860074
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Topics
classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism argument gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Winderman et al. (2023)
    Florynce Kennedy’s Cultivation of Reproductive Expertise inAbramowicz v. Lefkow…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Browdy et al. (2022)
    Global Black Rhetorics: A New Framework for Engaging African and Afro-Diasporic…
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  3. Ore et al. (2021)
    Symposium: Diversity is not Enough: Mentorship and Community-Building as Antira…
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Condit (2019)
    Public Health Experts, Expertise, and Ebola: A Relational Theory of Ethos
    Rhetoric & Public Affairs
  5. Pezzullo et al. (2018)
    Resistance: Taking a Stand, Struggling to Matter
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Show all 7 →
  1. Applegarth (2011)
    Genre, Location, and Mary Austin'sEthos
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Skinner (2009)
    “She Will Have Science”:Ethosand Audience in Mary Gove'sLectures to Ladies
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly

References (20) · 1 in this index

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  4. Bacon Jacqueline (2002)
    The Humblest May Stand Forth: Rhetoric, Empowerment, and Abolition
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Show all 20 →
  1. Carby Hazel (1995)
    Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Novelist
  2. Edsall Thomas B. (1992)
    The Washington Post
  3. Fisher Walter (1987)
    Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reasons, Values, and Action
  4. Griffin Farah J. (2001)
    If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery
  5. Holiday Billie (1956)
    Lady Sings the Blues
  6. Jacobs Harriet (1988)
    Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
  7. Mills David (1992)
    The Washington Post
  8. Neely Kim (1992)
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  9. Nicholson Stuart (1995)
    Billie Holiday
  10. Reynolds (1993)
    Ethosas location: New sites for understanding discursive authority
    Rhetoric Review
  11. Rose , Tricia .The Women's Review of Boos. Rev of No Disrespect, The Women's Review of Boos. Rev of No Disres…
     ↗
  12. Royster Jacqueline Jones (2000)
    Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women
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  13. Smith Craig (2004)
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  14. Smith Valerie (1988)
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  15. Souljah Sister (1996)
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CrossRef global citation count: 13 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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