Classroom Activities

1. Watch the video of the re-enactment of Harper’s speech by Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose (see the link in the Audiovisual Materials section of this unit). Does DeBose’s recitation and performance of the speech seem fitting for Harper’s message and its meanings? Why or why not? Moreover, what are the limitations of interpreting speeches when we don’t know how they were delivered?
2. Harper’s speech rarely employed transitions and often seems to shift abruptly from one topic or line of argument to another. Assume the role of editor for a moment and explain what—if anything—you would change about the speech’s flow of ideas.
3. In her speech, Harper described her experience of discrimination as a Black woman. What do speakers gain by conveying personal experience in a speech like this? What are the potential drawbacks? Did her speech effectively balance personal experience with other forms of support?
4. Harper was a poet and novelist, as well as an orator. Identify portions of the speech (e.g., specific language) that reveal a poetic or literary sensibility. Explain how they add to the speech’s persuasiveness.

Student Research

1. Contemporary periodicals did not give much attention to Harper’s message, perhaps because of her race/ethnicity. Step back in time, figuratively, and imagine yourself as a writer for a magazine that covered politics, culture, and opinion in 1866 (e.g., The Atlantic or The Nation). Write a journalistic commentary of around 500 words that conveys the distinctiveness and significance of Harper’s message for your readers.
2. Harper’s political criticism of white women is mild compared to her caustic indictment of President Andrew Johnson. Using scholarly sources and journalistic accounts from 1866, write a report that: (a) identifies the most common critiques of Johnson at the time, (b) explains the rhetorical function of Harper’s indictment of the president in her speech, and (c) evaluates the fairness of her criticism.
3. Locate a research library that can provide you with access to the “American Broadsides and Ephemera, 1749-1900” database or the “Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000” electronic collection curated by Alexander Street. Use the database or electronic resource to find the proceedings for the Eleventh National Woman’s Rights Convention (1866), at which Harper delivered her speech. Then, choose a speech by one of the white feminists at the convention (e.g., Elizabeth Cady Stanton). Write a research paper comparing the speech you choose with Harper’s address. Focus on the similarities and differences in message, argument, language, and tone.
4. In her speech, Harper claimed, “You white women speak here of rights. I speak of wrongs.” But Harper doesn’t address all the political and civil wrongs experienced by Black women at that time. [Hint: If nothing else, the speech seems silent on the experiences of freedwomen in the South.] Conduct research into the discrimination Black women faced during Reconstruction. Identify the “wrongs” Harper’s speech omits and explain why the omissions are (or are not) important.

Citizenship Activities

1. Study the text of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments to the Constitution—all of which contain provisions connected to voting. What do the amendments reveal about the nature of the electorate and of voting rights in the United States? [Hint: In essence, they function as non-discrimination clauses.] What are the problems connected to ensuring equal access to the ballot box via constitutional amendment?
2. Many advocates for equal voting rights have emphasized a connection between personal dignity and the right to vote. Indeed, many of Harper’s contemporaries emphasized it more than she did. Why do people perceive voting rights as a symbol of dignity in the United States? What are the benefits and drawbacks of framing the fight for equal voting rights as a fight for dignity, even today?
3. Differences between white feminists and Black feminists still exist regarding the vote. Visit the websites of the League of Women Voters (a historically white-oriented organization) and of Black Girls Vote. Compare and contrast the two organizations’ work, especially the issues on which they focus and their strategies to effect change.
4. Many struggles for civil rights are characterized by hierarchies. That is, implicitly or explicitly, one group’s rights (e.g., Black men’s rights) are prioritized over another group’s rights (e.g., women’s rights). Is this phenomenon inevitable in a democracy? Why or why not? Moreover, who usually decides whose rights are prioritized—and according to what measures?