need question answer.

Mr. Franklin was born on January 2, 1915 in Rentiesville, Oklahoma to his father Buck and his mother Molly. Buck was a lawyer and Molly was a school teacher. Molly began taking John to work with her at three years of age, and by the age of five he was able to read and write. Around the age of six, he started becoming aware of the racial divide within his environment. Mr. Franklin grew up to become a renowned Duke University Historian making impressive leaps and bounds along the way. Most notable among his accomplishments was his book From Slavery to Freedom which was instrumental in black history being integrated into American History, becoming the first black department chair at Brooklyn College which was primarily white, being the first black professor to hold an awarded chair at Duke University and the first black president of the American Historical Association. Mr. Franklin also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to a civilian.

What I find unique about this work is how from such a drastic event, his mother was able to turn his entire outlook around with a simple fact. “Under no circumstances should you be upset or distressed because someone sought to demean you. It takes too much energy to hate or even to fight intolerance with one’s emotions.” No one can ever say with conviction that there is not power in words. Words have the power to convey love, anger and any other emotion we can think of, especially hatred, but Molly chose not use them to spew hate. Regardless of how she may have felt on the inside, she set that aside and let her beloved son of seven years old know that he, as a member of the black race, was just as important and equal to anyone else. In a way, I feel as though she set John up for success at that very moment. I do not want to say that his life may have turned out horribly had his mother been negative about the situation or had not acknowledged it at all, but I do not believe he would have made all the significant contributions to society that he did.

As far as techniques, in my opinion Mr. Franklin definitely appealed to pathos. Even though I did not grow up during this time period, I could still relate to the emotion of his story. Being that this is a non-fiction piece, it is hard for me to believe that Mr. Franklin’s used a specific technique to appeal to his audience. The event in itself would appeal to anyone with half a heart. I believe his goal was to express that no matter what negativity is thrown our way, we can always overcome it. We just need tolerance and understanding.

Some key arguments pertaining to this piece would be hatred itself and discrimination. Discrimination is just as prevalent today as it was in Mr. Franklin’s childhood.