SOAPST for "A Talk to Teachers"

Subject - Educational Segregation

Occasion - 1963 New York City, the height of the movement for equality for African Americans

Audience - Schoolteachers, readers and listeners of the speech

Purpose - To inform, to persuade

Speaker - James Baldwin

Tone - Argumentative, persuasive, informative, confident, resentful

            This given speech is effective as Baldwin grasps his audience by not stating his thesis too early on in the speech; instead he provides a sense of ethos on the subject. He provides facts to back up his given points and opinions. Baldwin also had the capability to connect to his audience emotionally, whether it would be that the audience is being treated unfairly or do not like the idea of others being treated unfairly.

            The SOAPST is important in understanding the given speech, because it gives general background of the speech and a general view of what the speech is about. Understanding the purpose of the SOAPST can help the audience connect to the speech emotionally. In this speech, Baldwin tries to state that "by this time the Negro child has had, effectively, almost all the doors of opportunity slammed in his face, and there are very few things he can do about it."