Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2006

Tracing W. E. B. DuBois' “Color Line” in Government Regulations

Miriam F. Williams

Abstract

In this article, I present findings from a discourse analysis of an often-overlooked genre of technical communication, regulatory writing. The study focuses on post-bellum regulations that disproportionately affected African Americans and the historical contexts in which the regulations were written. Historically, African Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds have maintained an implicit mistrust of government regulations and the government officials who write them. The justification for this mistrust is deeply rooted in the fact that for decades regulations were not written to protect the rights of African Americans nor was their input considered in regulatory writing. In Communicating Across Cultures, Stella Ting-Toomey argues, “if conflict parties do not trust each other, they tend to move away (cognitively, affectively and physically) from each other rather than struggle side by side in negotiation” [1, p. 222]. This study reveals rhetorical strategies used in historical regulatory writing that may still impact the ethos of regulatory writers.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2006-04-01
DOI
10.2190/67rn-uawg-4nff-5hl5
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis argument technical communication race and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Bay et al. (2025)
    A History of DEI: How Regulatory and Compliance Rhetorics Influence Organizations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Deptula (2025)
    One Size Does Not Fit All: How Clinical Pain Assessment Scales and Tools Mask C…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Mckoy et al. (2022)
    Introduction to Special Issue: Black Technical and Professional Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Tham (2022)
    Pasts and Futures of Design Thinking: Implications for Technical Communication
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Olman (2022)
    Decolonizing the Color-Line: A Topological Analysis of W.E.B. Du Bois's Infogra…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 16 →
  1. Jones et al. (2022)
    Archives, Rhetorical Absence, and Critical Imagination: Examining Black Women's…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Stevens (2022)
    “I Don't Have a Gun Stop Shooting”: Rhetorical Analysis of Law Enforcement Use …
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Winkle (2022)
    Above All Made by Themselves: The Visual Rhetoric of W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Vi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Balzhiser et al. (2019)
    Matters of Form: Questions of Race, Identity, Design, and the U.S. Census
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Walton (2016)
    Supporting Human Dignity and Human Rights: A Call to Adopt the First Principle …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. Williams (2012)
    Game Theory and Technical Communication: Interpreting the Texas Two-Step throug…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Haas (2012)
    Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: A Case Study of Decolonial Technical Communicat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  8. Pimentel et al. (2012)
    The Double Occupancy of Hispanics: Counting Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. Census
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  10. Williams (2009)
    Understanding Public Policy Development as a Technological Process
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  11. Malone (2007)
    Historical Studies of Technical Communication in the United States and England:…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

References (27) · 1 in this index

  1. Ting-Toomey S., Communicating Across Cultures, The Guilford Press, New York, p. 222, 1999.
  2. Rice C. (2004)
    Full Transcript of Rice's 9/11 Testimony: Complete Text of Question-and-Answer Period
  3. Jordan B., Proceedings on the Impeachment of Richard Nixon, LBJ School of Public Affairs, 25 July 1974. Trans…
  4. Foucault M., The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language, Smith A. M. S. (trans.), Pantheon Bo…
  5. Baake (2003)
    Archaeology Reports: When Context Becomes an Active Agent in the Rhetorical Process
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 27 →
  1. DuBois W. E. B. (1901)
    Atlantic Monthly
  2. Washington B. T., Up From Slavery, Penguin Books, New York, p. 58, 1901.
  3. 10.2307/1958366
     ↗
  4. 10.1086/268636
     ↗
  5. 10.1086/269111
     ↗
  6. Glover T. (1992)
    Hypatia
  7. Cooter R. and Ulen T., Law and Economics, Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, p. 214, 1988.
  8. Okun A. M., Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 6–8…
  9. Burke-LeFevre K., Invention as a Social Act, Conference on College Composition and Communication, p. 17, 1987.
  10. Gasper D. and Apthorpe R., Introduction: Discourse Analysis and Policy Discourse, Institute of Social Studies…
  11. DuBois W. E. B., Houston David Levering Lewis (Ed.), W. E. B. DuBois: A Reader, Henry Holt & Company, New Yor…
  12. Moneyhon C. H., Black Codes, The Handbook of Texas Online. [Accessed Sun Nov 2 15:07:28 US/Central 2003]. Err…
  13. Gregory E. M.
    Letter to Benjamin Harris
  14. Crouch B. A. (1999)
    The Freedmen's Bureau and Reconstruction
  15. MacNealy M. S., Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing, Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights, Massachusetts, …
  16. Butler J. P., Report to Lieutenant L. P. Richardson, 31 January 1865, (ed.), Williams Miriam F., RG 105, micr…
  17. Ide H. (ed.), Edgar M. Gregory Letters, 2002. Available online at: http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/∼pa…
  18. Eleventh Texas Legislature, Chapter LXXX. An Act Regulating Contracts for Labor, Section 1, UNT Libraries: Ga…
  19. Bernstein D. E., Only One Place to Redress: African Americans, Labor Regulations, and the Courts from Reconst…
     ↗
  20. National Public Radio, Americans Distrust Government, But Want It to Do More: NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll …
  21. Williams M. F., Culture and Context: Invention and Style of Historical Regulations, in preparation.
  22. Williams M. F.
    Writing for the Government
CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Jan 2022
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics decolonial rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing transfer assessment portfolios writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring technical communication professional writing archival research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  2. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Jun 2024
    Rhetorical Leadership ↗
    Catherine L. Langford
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis feminist rhetorics cultural rhetorics decolonial rhetorics graduate education argument empirical research qualitative research race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric editorial matter
  3. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2024
    Literacy in a Long Blues Note: Black Women's Literature and Music in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries ↗
    Cecilia Cerja
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis argument literacy studies race and writing gender and writing public rhetoric literary studies
  4. Pedagogy Jan 2024
    The Radical Role of Student Writing in Composition ↗
    Jessica Masterson
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing professional writing grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing
  5. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Jun 2023
    No Future in This Country: The Prophetic Pessimism of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner ↗
    Christopher J. Morris
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics argument archival research qualitative research race and writing editorial matter