Eulogy of Charles Sumner

This chapter analyzes Bishop Henry McNeal Turner's speech delivered at the St. Philip African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church at Savannah, Georgia on March 18, 1874, during the memorial services for the Hon. Charles Sumner. It talks about Charles Sumner, who was a US senator from Massachusetts that opposed slavery and supported Reconstruction. In Turner's eulogy, he returned to the grand or high style of eloquence and often called Sumner the “unquestionable father of civil rights.” The chapter highlights Turner's use of rhetorical figures such as amplification, anaphora, and figurative language to evoke emotion by celebrating Sumner's life and legacy, which moves the audience to support the civil rights bill that Congress was debating at the time. It mentions how Turner told the congregation that Sumner was too noble to do wrong, too great to be mean, and too wise to make a blunder.