Wanda Little Fenimore

Presented at the Twenty-Third Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric

Presented at 92nd Annual Convention of the Southern States Communication Association

Rhetoric & Public Affairs 24, no. 4 (2021): 645-683. On January 16, 1950, Elizabeth Avery Waring, a well-to-do white woman, delivered an explosive speech to the Coming Street (Black) Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Charleston, South Carolina. Waring crafted the speech to provoke a response. She maneuvered behind the scenes to ensure that the speech reached a national audience. As a result, Waring received supportive and derogatory letters from people beyond the local audience. Four themes emerged in the derogatory letters: Good Southerner, Outsider to the South, Outsider to White Femininity, and Threats. The negative letters attempted to restore the illusion of consensus about segregation. The positive letter-writers admired Waring’s courage for saying what they were scared to say publicly. Waring circulated the responses to the speech in media interviews, letters, and subsequent speeches. The strategic circulation of the audience responses functioned rhetorically as an affirming device with the potential to create a white collective that publicly opposed segregation, thereby disrupting the appearance of unanimity. When applied to audience responses, circulation as a rhetorical strategy can remove barriers to speech, recruit adherents, and further movements.

Invited guest lecturer in COMM 275 Communication Theory class at Coastal Carolina University. The lecture examined the political economy of media and coverage of celebrity mental health issues. With a focus on Britney Spears, students and I explored how media's profit motive reinforced negative stereotypes and stigma of mental health.

Invited guest lecturer in RHET 331 Voices of American Women at Sewanee: The University of the South In this interactive session, I presented my research on Elizabeth Waring, a white woman who publicly denounced segregation. Students and I examined and discussed the provocative and problematic aspects of Waring's public address. Then, we explored the politics of preservation and archival absences, especially for women orators.

* Top Paper Award - American Society for the History of Rhetoric Interest Group Southern States Communication Association Conference

* Top Paper Award Rhetoric and Public Address Division Southern States Communication Association Conference

In the twenty-first century, monuments and memorials to former colonial empires still stand—sites where the past has a presence. The Queen Victoria Memorial located at Buckingham Palace in conjunction with the adjoining gates and pillars is a material, public, permanent site that commemorates the past glory of the British Empire. I argue that the Memorial’s materiality rhetorically performs the strategies and tactics of colonialism.

In the Faculty Research Seminar, Dr. Fenimore explores the rhetoric of Judge J. Waties Waring, a native white Southerner who actively resisted white supremacy. Judge Waring provoked controversy and impeachment attempts with his landmark rulings and speeches that dismantled Jim Crow.

This chapter from the book, Mental Illness in Popular Media, explores the intersection of profit and content using media coverage of three women's mental health issues: Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, and Britney Spears.