Arun Ramamurthy Klein - 8 April 28, 2023

A Fight for the Future

        In his attempt to convince his fellow African Americans to join the Union forces during

the Civil War, Alfred M. Green faces a difficult task. He must convince a group of people who

have been downtrodden by their society to fight for the very government that supports it.

However, between his acute understanding of his audience’s situation, his use of racial pride as a

motivator, and his strong tone of grandeur to place legitimacy in his concern, Green is able to

deliver an effective speech that truly speaks to the hearts of his audience.

        The hardest part about convincing such an embittered group of people to support their

oppressive society is overcoming their predisposition to hate that society. Green, being African

American, understands this, and his audience is aware of his shared feelings about their plight.

While he agrees that, "it is true that our injuries in many respects are great," (Green), Green

encourages his audience to, "endeavor to hope for the future." Serving as a role model for his

audience, Green wants them to accept their broken past, but to also have faith that they can

change their place in society with hard work and pride in their race. Green uses his role as a

fellow African American to console his audience, but also to drive hope and enthusiasm. After

all, he would know just as well as his listeners how difficult their lives have been. To further

pronounce his relationship with his audience, Green uses words like, "our duty" instead of "your

duty" and "brethren" over "friends" to illustrate that he is intimately a member of their group.

However, he still yearns for a brighter future, and wants to help achieve it by joining the

American military. This sense of unity, which Green uses as he serves as an example for the rest

of his audience, pulls the entire group together into a single force, with a single purpose.

        However, not only does Green assert that African Americans can bind together, but also

that they are powerful if they do so. Green turns their heritage and common race into a strength

as he further incites his audience. He reminds his listeners that they mustn't forget the, "honor

and glory of our fathers," as they rise up for the cause. Once more, they must, "again give

evidence to the world of the bravery and patriotism," of African Americans. Having established

that African Americans can join together as one, Green explain that African Americans can be a

powerful, integral force as well. African Americans have been war heroes before, and can, even

must, do so again to show their continued support and pride for their race, and their country,

though it has wronged them. Green sees their common race as a powerful, significant symbol,

Arun Ramamurthy Klein - 8 April 28, 2023

and a powerful tool to, "drive back [the opponents of] the advance guard of civil and religious

freedom."

        Finally, in addition to playing to the personal connection between African Americans and

the war, Green excites his audience with strong language, impressing upon them the sheer

importance of this event. Green begins his speech with, "the time has arrived…" to attach a

momentous nature to the war. His later use of "auspicious" to describe this opportunity for

African Americans to show their support of the Union follows this trope. Green pays special

attention to the abstract, grand ideas that signify the group’s involvement in war, like, "love of

country, of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration," to achieve a tone of grandeur, the

parallel structure hammering these concepts down upon the crowd. He even uses the will of God

to support his position, asserting that they are the, "armies of the Living God," to give more

significance to their role in the war. With his powerful speech, Green inspires an entire sect of

Americans to bind together, rise up, and achieve a future where they can be happy, even though

they have been wronged in the past.