“Did you ever see an abolitionist without prayer?”. The Resonance of the Question and Prosopopoeia in Theodore Sedgwick Wright’s Public Addresses from 1834 to 1837

Abstract

This article addresses gaps in historical scholarship on Princeton Theological Seminary’s first Black Graduate, Theodore Sedgwick Wright (1797–1847; class of 1828), by analyzing selected records of his speeches between 1834 and 1837. The article also contributes to recent homiletical scholarship on the sociological concept of resonance. It shows how Wright deployed rhetorical questions and prosopopoeia– a rhetorical device in which a speaker speaks in the voice of another person or group– to generate resonance between the Christian tradition, movements calling for the abolition of slavery, and diverse audiences. Compared to other pre-Civil War Black church leaders, Wright’s biography has received meager attention within and beyond the theological academe. Consequently, the text also includes a biographical section and charts pathways for further research on his contributions to US religious history and African American preaching traditions.