Context (a product of the times)

Read one of these important speeches.  Consider the social climate and events of the time period as you read.  Following the reading, answer the questions below.

1. FDR's inaugural address
2. Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech
3. Kennedy's Statement on the Steel Crisis news conference speech
4. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I've been to the Mountaintop" speech 
5. Robert Kennedy's speech on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination
6. Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech 1851
7. Florence Kelley's speech against child labor 1905
8. Ronald Reagan's Challenger Speech
9. Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points speech
10. Susan B. Anthony On Women's Right to Vote 1872

 Evaluate the speech using SOAPSTONE:

• Who the speaker is for this speech, including his/her title/significance/background?
• When was this speech given?  Was it given on a particular occasion?
• What is he/she saying (purpose)?
• Why is he/she saying it? In other words, what is the context?  What is happening at the time period that makes the speech timely and relevant?
• How is he/she effectively bringing across his/her point (style including sentence structure, word choice, schemes and tropes, figurative language, etc.)?
• What is the tone that comes across in this speech?