The Life & Legacy of Rosa Parks
Informative speech outline- courtesy of Tiffany Smith who gave this speech right after Rosa Parks died.
Title: The Life & Legacy of Rosa Parks
Speech pattern: Topical
Attention-getting technique: Provocative statement
Introduction:
“ We are asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial…You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab or walk, but please children and grownups, don’t ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses.”
What would cause someone to say these words? The woman who started a movement to end Jim Crow and allow African-Americans to have the same rights as any other American. The woman’s name is Rosa Parks.
Thesis:
This African-American civil rights activist’s refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus helped spark the civil rights movement of the 1950s.
Preview:
Today I’ll tell you about Rosa Park’s life before the bus boycott, what she did during the boycott, how her actions fueled the civil rights movement, and then the personal cost she paid for her actions.
Credibility:
Much of my information I’ll give you today came from Herbert Kohl’s book entitled “She would not be moved” as well as a Washington Post article called “Alabama teacher laid groundwork for civil rights activism.”
(Transition: Just last week, America lost a brave woman whose impact began the civil rights movements. Yet her story began in Tuskegee, Alabama.)
Body:
I. Life before the bus boycott
A. Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913 B. Parks said, “ Back then we didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl, hearing the Klan riding at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid that the house would burn down.” C. She attended Alabama State
Title: The Life & Legacy of Rosa Parks
Speech pattern: Topical
Attention-getting technique: Provocative statement
Introduction:
“ We are asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial…You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab or walk, but please children and grownups, don’t ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses.”
What would cause someone to say these words? The woman who started a movement to end Jim Crow and allow African-Americans to have the same rights as any other American. The woman’s name is Rosa Parks.
Thesis:
This African-American civil rights activist’s refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus helped spark the civil rights movement of the 1950s.
Preview:
Today I’ll tell you about Rosa Park’s life before the bus boycott, what she did during the boycott, how her actions fueled the civil rights movement, and then the personal cost she paid for her actions.
Credibility:
Much of my information I’ll give you today came from Herbert Kohl’s book entitled “She would not be moved” as well as a Washington Post article called “Alabama teacher laid groundwork for civil rights activism.”
(Transition: Just last week, America lost a brave woman whose impact began the civil rights movements. Yet her story began in Tuskegee, Alabama.)
Body:
I. Life before the bus boycott
A. Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913 B. Parks said, “ Back then we didn’t have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl, hearing the Klan riding at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid that the house would burn down.” C. She attended Alabama State
Cited: Bernstein, Adam. "Alabama teacher laid groundwork for civil rights activism." Washington Post 27 July 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. Gates, Henry L. Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 311-13. Print. Kohl, Herbert R. She Would Not Be Moved: How We Tell the Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. 15-276. Print. “Rosa Parks Profile.” Online posting. Academy of Achievement. 2 Nov. 2005. 2 Nov. 2005. Severson, Kim. "Another Role for Buses in Civil Rights History." New York Times 19 Mar. 2011. Print.