Phases of Movement Development: Inception, Rhetorical Crisis, and Consummation

Definition: A protest movement has three major phases of development: inception, rhetorical crisis, and consummation. Inception is the beginning phase, where a rising sentiment among an aggressor population begins to take hold and become visible. Rhetorical crisis has begun when the dialogue between the aggressor orators and the defendant orators is fully public, irreversibly altering the balance that was formerly established. Finally, consummation signals the end of the protest, when the aggressor orators discontinue their efforts, often due to three reasons: the aggressors were successful in changing the status quo, the aggressors were unsuccessful in changing the status quo, or the current issue was abandoned in favor of another issue which demands more attention.

Example: During the Civil Rights Movement, the inception phase began to mount when segregation laws ("separate but equal") were passed in the South. This hostility and anger built up until the first real action was taken: Brown v. Board of Education (Foner). This case desegregated the public school system, providing the catalyst for sit-ins, bus boycotts, and public desegregation throughout the South. These events took place during the rhetorical crisis phase, culminating in the March on Washington (Foner). After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, the consummation period was enacted, having completed what the aggressor orators (the African-American community and their sympathizers) set out to do. 

Ruby Bridges on the steps of William Frantz Elementary School (1960).

Ruby was the first African-American child to attend an historically all-white school.

Image Credit: Ruby Bridges on William Frantz Elementary School Steps. Digital image. Teaching Ruby Bridges. Boston Globe, 27 June 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

From The Text: As the student reads the rhetorical study of a distinct protest, Griffin suggests proceeding in "chronological" order, starting from "the period of inception to the period of consummation" (Griffin 12). The purpose of this sequence is to "note the crystallization of fundamental issues" so that the protest can be seen, and therefore analyzed, in its entirety (Griffin 12). Once the movement has been sufficiently analyzed, the proceeding paper as written by the student should encompass the protest as a whole, moving "chronologically" to "its consummation" (Griffin 13). 

Works Cited:
Foner, E., & Garraty, J. A. (1991). Civil Rights Movement. History. Retrieved February 03, 2016.

Griffin, Leland. "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements." Readings in the Rhetoric of Social Protest. Browne, Stephen Howard, and Charles E. Morris III, eds. State College, Pa: Strata Publishing, Inc., 2013.