Public speaking in a democracy.

In this day, people all over academia feel that our democracy is eroding and that there is no need for rhetoric. Yet, if some effort is not made to help young people understand democracy and the role of public speaking in this form of government, all will truly be lost. The battle is always ongoing as long as one person stands to tell the story. Today, a story of how public speaking is a part of a democratic government will be told.

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Public Speaking and Democracy

Public Speaking is a mode of speech whereby one speaker presents a formal, continuous discourse on a topic of interest before a sizeable number of other people. A public speaker should have a clear speaking voice, a purpose, a familiarity with the audience composition, content/knowledge to convey in an organized and in a logical manner, memory of the content, and a delivery of the information, that includes regular vocal rate, good eye contact, appropriate gestures, correct pronunciation, and grammar. In essence, a public speaker should have something to say, a desire to present it to others, and good delivery.

Public Speaking may be used to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. That is, public speaking is used to impart information or to instruct on a subject or topic; to influence the attitudes, beliefs, convictions, or behaviors of others: or to amuse or to divert to a lighter, pleasant topic/subject. Public speaking is one way to inform or to teach a group via oral reports or lectures; to persuade a group to think a certain way or to do a certain thing: or to amuse or to entertain a group.

To present effective planned speeches, the speaker should carefully select a topic, have a purpose, narrow the subject or topic, revisit the purpose, analyze the audience, gather information on the topic or research for content, develop an outline, practice the speech, review all other steps, and present the speech.

Below are several steps in speech making (Evans, 200, pp 137-148)

1. In selecting the topic, be certain to review the speech assignment, length of the speech and any other particulars concerning the occasion on which the speech is to be presented. The purpose of the speech is tied to the particulars concerning the speech. The topic should be within your preview of in formation or that which is not too difficult to research. The topic should also be interesting to you and the audience, and should not be offensive. Take time to focus on the topic by writing or audiotaping your ideas on the topic, even the references to consult.

2. Describe the audience. Who are they? What are their interests, beliefs, convictions and attitudes on the topic? Are they informed on the topic? How can you secure and hold their attention. Can you locate facts or details, illustrations, quotations, analogies, and other information that would be interesting to the audience? Is the audience captive or voluntary? A captive audience is required to hear you, whereas a voluntary audience can walk out on you.

3. Collect as much information as you can. Decide at the time where you want to put specific information, whether in the introduction, body, or in the conclusion of the speech. This may give you a feeling for the speech or of what you want to say in the speech, even if you must rearrange the content before the delivery. Index cards or a tablet with specific sections or subtopics at the top of the page or card will help in organizing the content. You may consult general references first and specific references secondly: dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotation books, world almanacs, atlases, newspapers, magazines, periodical indices, content books, and resources individuals.

4. Write the speech or the outline of the speech. Have a definite introduction and a conclusion. In the introduction, you should address the dais and the audience, include an attention getter, state a rationale for your selecting the topic, and give a purpose of the speech. Use at least three major points. Always end dramatically, by summarizing key points, giving an illustration, reciting a poem, stating a warning or intention, or the like. Write in the outline or speech the visual aids to be used and the comments to be made. State the sources of your information at the time you say the information. Give credit for information you located from other sources, even if you do not know specific author. Many persons remember the trouble Senator Joseph Biden had for omitting authors' credit.

5. Repeat any of the previous steps to ensure that you are successful. Practice the speech as many times as necessary for you to present the speech with ease. Talk the speech out while looking in a mirror or to a friend. Even if you learn the speech by rote, use at least an outline in the speech to assist with your memory. If you are able to practice the speech in the place where the speech will be presented, you will have done a real" dress rehearsal" before your actual delivery.

Remember the five P's: "Proper preparation prevents poor performance." Keep a positive attitude, prepare with all diligence, and practice as much as possible.

Public speaking includes impromptu speaking as well as prepared speeches. Impromptu speeches are those made from life experiences. One type of this speech is the self-introduction: The outline is below:

1. Greeting

2. Name

3. Purpose

("My purpose today is to tell you about
me.")

4. Details

a. Point one
b. Point two
c. Point three

5. Conclusions

Democracy, a derivation from demos, the common people, and cracy, the government, refers to government by the people, rule of the majority, or a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation in which free elections, basic rights, and a free educational system are necessary:

   The major features of modern democracy
   include individual freedom,
   which entitle citizens to the liberty and
   responsibility of shaping their own careers
   and conducting their own affairs;
   equality before the law, and universal
   suffrage and education (Funk and Waghalls,
   1995; p. 122)

Democracy represents the middle or the golden mean in government forms, not too chaotic as in a lassiz-faire government or too controlled as in an authoritarian government, providing enough direction to advance the group, but not too much direction to omit the opinions of the group.

Free elections are necessary in a democracy. Public speaking is the major way the voters find out who the candidates are, what they believe, and what programs they will implement. At the same time, the candidates attempt to persuade the voters that they are the best candidates for the office by making speeches. Still others make speeches to get the citizens to register so that they can vote. Free elections include a basic civil right, the right to vote. A fine article on elections is found in the Tallahassee Democrat entitled "The Presidential Election"(2004, 8D):

   The two major political parties in
   the United States are the Democratic and
   Republican Party. The Green Party was
   significant in the last presidential election.
   The candidate for the Republican
   Party is the incumbent President, Mr.
   George W. Bush. The candidates for the
   Democratic Party are General Wesley
   K. Clark, Dr. Howard Dean, Mr. John
   Edwards, Mr. John Kerry, Mr. Dennis
   J. Kucinich, Mr. Joseph Lieberman, and
   Rev. Al Sharpton.

Do you know who the candidates are for the President of the United States? Have you heard any of the candidate's speak or make a speech? What political parties do they belong? If you were old enough to vote, whom will you select? Why would you vote for the candidate? Follow the format to present your case:

1. Greeting

2. Name

3. Purpose

("I would vote for (name) for President for three reasons")

4. Supporting Statements

a. Reason one

b. Reason two

c. Reason three

5. Conclusion

Elections in the USA require registration before voting. The requirements for registration are that you must be an eighteen-year-old citizen. Years ago, to register to vote, prospective voters had to be white men, not be slaves, own property, and be able to read. Specific Amendments were proposed to have all eligible citizens become voters: Amendment XIII (Slavery prohibited), 1865; Amendment XIV (Citizenship defined), 1868; Amendment XV (Right to vote by certain citizens defined), 1870; Amendment XIX (Defined voting for women), 1920; Amendment XXIII (Electors for the District of Columbia), 1961; Amendment XXIV (Prohibited poll tax to vote), 1964; and Amendment XXVI (Voting for 18 year olds), 1971. The USA took more than 100 years to give all eligible citizens the right to vote, many speeches were made, and many people died to make voting in the USA truly a basic right. The next large group of people disenfranchised are ex felons, who, after they have served their time, are still unable to vote in many states. Guess what race is over represented among prisoners. Once these persons are granted their citizenship, they should be able to vote regardless of race, age, sex, previous servitude, education or wealth.

What amendments on voting do you like best? Make a short speech on the answer:

1. Greeting

2. Name

3. Purpose

4. Details

5. Conclusion

So in addition to free elections, a democratic government is based on a guarantee of the basic rights, as in the Bill of Rights. The initial part of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 echoes these rights:

   Four scores and seven years ago our
   fathers brought on this continent a new
   nation conceived in liberty and dedicated
   to the proposition that all men are created
   equal ... That we here highly resolve that
   these dead shall not have died in vain, that
   this nation under God shall have a new
   birth of freedom, and that the government
   of the people, by the people, and for the
   people shall not perish from the earth
   (World almanac, 2004, p. 173).

Several others spoke of freedom for U.S. citizens, such as Sojourner Truth in her "Ain't I A Woman" speech (Rennvert, 1993, p. 45), Fredrick Douglass in his "Independence Speech," Mafia Stewart in her freedom speeches (Haywood, 2003), Susan B. Anthony's speeches on the rights of women, and others.

A number of court cases had to be filed before all Americans were included in the Bill of Rights:

   Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857, in
   which a slave, Dred Scott, filed a lawsuit
   claim that, because he had lived in free
   soil, that he was entitled to his freedom.
   Chief Justice Roger B. Tancy disagreed,
   ruling that black people were not citizens
   and could not sue in federal court.

   Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, in which
   the court declared that "equal but separate
   accommodations" for blacks on railroad
   cars did not violate the "equal protection
   under the law" clause of the 14th
   Amendment.

The Bill of Rights, ratified 1791, includes the following (World almanac, 2004, pp 168-169):

Amendment I (Freedom of religion, speech, and the right to petition)

Amendment II (The right to bear arms not to be infringed)

Amendment III (Quartering Troops) at consent of homeowner

Amendment IV (Persons and houses secured from unreasonable searches and seizures)

Amendment V (Trials for crime; just compensation for private property, taken for police use)

Amendment VI (Civil rights in trials for criminals enumerated)

Amendment VII (Civil rights in civil suits)

Amendment VIII (Excessive bail, fines, and punishment prohibited)

Amendment IX (Reserved rights of the people) not denied because of other rights

Amendment X (Powers not delegated, reserved to states and people respectively)

Which of the Amendments is most important? Use this as a format for short speeches:

1. Greeting

2. Name

3. Purpose

4. Details

5. Conclusion

The civil rights of U.S.A. citizens have been eroded in the last three years, while black people have never really felt the security of the rights. After the 9/11 disaster in America, the Patriot Act was established. The Act allows the police to have broadened subpoena powers, expands federal death penalty statue, and authorizes judges to deny bail for suspects in terrorism cases. The Act indeed violates civil rights of citizens, Amendments I-VIII, one of the tenets of a democratic government.

The last tenet of democracy is a free education system. Free education is necessary in a democracy because the citizens must be educated to make decisions about the government and to train for a good vocation or career. That is, education not only equips the citizens to be intelligent voters but also good workers for the government.

Although early schools were established for religious purposes, they also provided general education to their students. At first the children were required to attend elementary school, but later the children were sent to school until they completed high school. Some examples of early colleges that were religious were Harvard, 1636; William of Mary; 1693; Yale, 1701 ; University of Pennsylvania, 1740; and Columbia University, 1754. In Florida the early colleges were state and/or religiously supported: University of Florida, 1853, for men; Florida State University, 1857, for women; Bethune-Cookman College, 1872, for women, Florida Memorial College, 1879; Stetson University, 1883; Florida A&M University, 1887, for men and women; and the University of Miami, 1925.

Free education was not available to everyone until the middle of the twentieth century. In the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case, the Supreme Court decided that segregated schools were invalid, which led to desegregation in other aspects of American life. The case was argued in the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, an NAACP lawyer, who later was appointed a justice in the Supreme Court. Hallie Q. Brown also spoke out against keeping black women uneducated in her speech, " Discussion of the Same Subject", before the World's Congress of Representative Women in 1893. (Brown, 1893).

In the classroom, the primary method of delivering instruction is through public speaking lectures, lecture discussions, and oral reports and enrichment activities include lyceum features of great speakers. Many great leaders are known for their outstanding speeches, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., known for his " I Have A Dream" speech; Malcolm X known for his "The Ballot or the Bullet" and John E Kennedy known for his Inaugural speech in which he said " ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Public speaking is necessary in a democracy because it allows the citizens to receive and to share information, it provides instruction to the citizens, it generates new ideas, and it allows the citizens to practice their professions/vocations.

In your own words, tell why public speaking is important in a democracy. Remember the format:

1. Greeting

2. Name

3. Purpose

4. Details

5. Conclusion

Conclusion

Public Speaking is important in a democracy. In carrying out the tenets of democracy, free elections, basic rights, and free education, public speaking is essential in not only practicing democracy but also in helping to maintain democracy. How would you know who is the best candidate to vote for if you did not hear the candidates make speeches?

References

Brown, H.Q. (1893). Discussion of the same subject. Document 17. Found in May Wright Sewall (ed.) The World congress of representative women, pp. 724-29. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1894. <http://womhid.binghamton.edu/;bul>

Debram, B. (2004). The presidential election. Tallahassee Democrat, Tuesday, January 13, 8D.

Evans, A. (2000). Speech and language control: An individualized approach to speech improvement. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Evans, A.L., Evans, V. & Evans, A. (2003). Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Education. 123, 3-17; 30.

Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1996, 9.

Haywood, C. (2003). Prophesying daughters: Black women preachers and the word 1823-1913. Columbia: The University of Missouri Press.

Rennert, R. (ed.). (1993). Shapers of America, Profiles of great Black Americans. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. World Almanac. 2004.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. A.L. Evans, Department of English, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307; 850-599-3140 x.3464.

Dr. A.L. Evans, Professor, Department of English, Florida A&M University. Dr. V. Evans, Professor Emeritus, College of Education, Florida A&M. Dr. A.M. Lami Kanra, Professor of History, West Virgina State University. Dr. O.S.L. Jones, Assistant Professor of Speech, Florida A&M.