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ABSTRACT
On July 28, 1917, between 8,000 and 15,000 Black men, women, and child protesters gathered in the streets of New York City to protest the continued lynchings of Black Americans. The Silent Protest Parade enacted silence to safely mobilize a double voiced critique. Drawing on Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness, I consider how double consciousness (i.e. “double voice”) functions in protest as a rhetorical device through the lens of “collective rhetoric.” I argue that protesters’ doubled rhetoric enacted a collective resistance while stifling the possibility of racialized violence. This essay illustrates a collective double voice as a rhetorical strategy in protest and underscores the importance of reexamining historical events often silenced by forces of white supremacy.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. I employ the terms “Black” and “African Americans” interchangeably throughout this essay. While I recognize that not all protesters or audiences identify as Black or of African descent, the historical context and literature use both “Blacks” and “African Americans.” Contemporary understandings of racial groups have moved to the label “Black,” although this could include other racial identification markers.