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Jennifer Lopez

Cooper 4

AP Lang.

Feb. 25, 2017

Wallace’s Speech; Segregation analysis

The 1960s was the time for civil rights. African Americans were no longer slaves and

have had their rights, but it was as if they didn’t. During this time African Americans and other

liberals took to marches and peaceful protests to fight for civil rights. Schools and public places

were slowly being desegregating but desegregation was spreading. This in turn struck fear into

the white population of the south, who feared for their lives and freedom. George Wallace used

that fear to snag the position of governor of Alabama. Wallace made it clear during his

campaign, by being endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan and more so in his inauguration speech that

he was pro-segregation. Wallace effectively allows his audience to understand his stance on

segregation through his skillful use of ethos, anaphoras and antithesis.

In his inauguration speech, Wallace states that they have political and religious freedoms

that they should also have the freedom to live how they want, segregated. He repeatedly states

that it is a mutual feeling between whites and African Americans, to live segregated and even

goes as far as saying that segregation is vital to keeping the peace. When mentioning that “[the]

racism of Hitler’s Germany persecuted a national minority to the whim of a national

majority…so the international racism of the liberals seek to persecute the international white

minority to the whim of the international colored majority…”(Wallace 6), he repeats the words

national and international throughout the quote. By putting emphasis on the words national and

international, and the mention of Hitler, the reader can conclude that Wallace believes that by
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integrating, the white community is giving up its power. It is also evident that he fears that if

they relinquish any more power to the government they will have “the power to dictate , to

forbid...enforce judgement upon its citizens from unimpeachable authority…” (Wallace 4).

“Looking Back on 1963 Fifty Years Later”, by Jon Greenbaum, reflects on the aftermath

of George Wallace’s inauguration speech. African Americans went against White supremacists

and fought for their civil rights. He mentions that President Kennedy had stated that “100 after

President Lincoln freed the slave, African Americans were not free from injustice and social and

economic oppression” (Greenbaum 3) and it is evident in George Wallace’s speech. In

segregation African Americans and Whites were separate but equal and in Greenbaum’s

evaluation he points out that Wallace did not see the African American race as equals. Wallace

says he worries about the violation of their freedom but constantly violates the freedom of

African Americans. George Wallace in his speech mentions that desegregation will endanger

them (white population) when in reality it is hurting the African American community. In

another article by David J. Garrow, “King the March the Man the Dream (cover story)” he

evaluates how African Americans planned marches for civil rights. Garrow also mentions how

Whites, mainly Supremacists or members of the Ku Klux Klan, attempted to put an end to their

Civil Rights marches (Garrow 2). African Americans were hosed down and arrested for peaceful

protests, while a member of the Ku Klux Klan who killed 4 African American girls by placing a

bomb only received 6 months and a $100 bail.

Wallace claims that integration is a violation of their freedom. He claims that segregation

is a mutual agreement between African Americans and Whites. In the analysis of Wallace’s

speech, Jon Greenbaum and in “King the March the Man the Dream (cover story)” by David J.

Garrow, it is evident that the agreement was not mutual. By repeating certain words, Wallace put
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emphasis on the issue he was talking about and as the governor of Alabama he has credibility.

By being backed by the Ku Klux Klan it is evident on where he stands and his beliefs.
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Works Cited

Garrow, David J. “King the March the Man the Dream. (Cover Story)”. American History,

vol. 38, no.3. EBSCOhost. August 2003.

Greenbaum, Jon. “Looking back on 1963 Fifty years later”. Human Rights, vol. 40, no.1.

EBSCOhost. December 2013.

Wallace George. “The Inaugural Address of Governor George C. Wallace”.January 14,

1963. Alabama Department of Archives and History 20.