Rhetoric & Public Affairs Jun 2023

Racial Feeling-With, White Acknowledgement, and Rhetorical Quiet within the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Roger C. Aden

Abstract

Abstract The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, commemorates victims of lynching in a three-part experience featuring 800 coffin-size monuments that appear to be suspended in the air. While providing a space for Black grieving, the memorial's design also creates an experience that invites white Americans to feel-with Black grief-yet-hope. This felt experience may produce discomfort for white visitors, as well as white acknowledgement of generations of white supremacist violence against Black Americans. Such an experience is possible because the memorial generates rhetorical quiet or the creative, artful, and public expression of interiority—an attempt to share that which is deeply felt but which often eludes efforts to be adequately communicated through traditional rhetorical/verbal forms.

Journal
Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published
2023-06-01
DOI
10.14321/rhetpublaffa.26.2.0001
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism race and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (0)

No references on file for this article.

CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2026
    Book Review: Engaging Museums: Rhetorical Education and Social Justice by Lauren E. Obermark ObermarkLauren E. (2022). Engaging Museums: Rhetorical Education and Social Justice . Southern Illinois University Press. 196 pp. $40.00. ISBN: 978-0-80933-850-4(paperback), 978-0-80933-851-1(eBook). ↗
    Kyle P. Vealey; Jeffrey M. Gerding
    rhetorical criticism race and writing book reviews
  2. Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments Jan 2026
    Expanding Graduate Student Rhetorical Knowledge: African American Rhetorical Analysis ↗
    Jamila M. Kareem
    rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics graduate education race and writing
  3. Res Rhetorica Jan 2026
    Review/Recenzja: Nancy Organ. 2024. Data Visualization for People of All Ages. Oxon: CRC Press; and Jen Christiansen. 2023. Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science Through Diagrams and Visualizations. Oxon: CRC Press ↗
    Ewa Modrzejewska
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis digital rhetoric multimodality grammar and mechanics race and writing book reviews
  4. Pedagogy Jan 2026
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism genre theory writing pedagogy graduate education two-year college teacher development social media race and writing gender and writing affect and writing literary studies editorial matter
  5. Communication Design Quarterly Dec 2025
    Visualizing Flint Lead Contamination Risks: Building a Critical Rhetorical Risk Visualization Ecology ↗
    Yeqing Kong
    rhetorical criticism technical communication race and writing