Rhetorical Analysis On An Image

Student Name
Professor Name
Course
Date
Rhetorical Analysis of an Image
In the 18th and 19th centuries, slavery was considered legal in the United States, and various African-Americans used to be given tough times. This image delivers the same kind of message. The text “don’t forget, slavery was legal” makes it clear that slavery had been practiced not only in Britain but also in the United States. In 1776, it was considered ethical, legal and moral in all Thirteen Colonies of the state. As an economic system, slavery was replaced by sharecropping. The Great Depression played a significant role in transforming the political and social system of the United States and the way people used to live their lives. Until 1932, citizens felt challenged and were living in a poor and miserable condition (Wuthnow 124). In 1932, three years after the first crash, over thirty million Americans lost their jobs; later on, they started doing work for pennies or cents. In those days, they were not actually slaved but were forced to work for long hours in order to earn a living. The fact is that it is unethical to ask something to work a lot for low wages. In almost all countries of the world, the minimum per hour wage has now been set. In the United States, it is something around $7 per hour for all kinds of jobs. It means if a person works for nearly eight hours a day, he should be paid a minimum of $56 in salary. However, in the past, there was nothing like this. In fact, there were devastating economic depressions that caused serious problems for most of the Americans. The same issue has been highlighted in this photo, where we can see some people carrying loads of things from one place to another, and they are all half-naked.
Through this black-and-white advertisement with texts written inside, the creator has tried to make things simple and understandable for the target audience. Who is his target audience? It is probably everyone who has no idea of how difficult life was for Americans years ago. Today, the United States has become the most developed and powerful country, but things were never the same for their forefathers, especially in the time of the Great Depression and before it. The crisis of 1930 encompassed both urban and rural areas of the country and devastated middle-class and working-class individuals simultaneously (Temin 332). The purpose of the creator of this image is to make people understand that their elders have sacrificed a lot for them and have long lived the life of slavery, which was not easy for them since their personal and professional lives were ruined by the whole.
Another text from this image that is worth discussing is “segregation was legal.” Racial segregation in the United States is all about restricting minorities’ access to health care and education facilities and opportunities like employment, transportation, and housing (Stanley 101). The purpose of this text is to create awareness among people that there were times when se...