Liza Holland, Julia Long, and Catherine Barksdale
Ariail
English 9A-6
1 March 2015
Lupita Nyong’o Speech Script
Julia: Lupita Nyong’o is an actress and director. She is most commonly known for her
performance in the movie 12 Years A Slave as “Patsey”. Lupita Nyong’o has won numerous
awards for this role, such as an Academy Award for “Best Actress”. She also won a Grammy
award in 2014, for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role”. Lupita Nyong’o gave
her speech “Black Beauty” at ESSENCE’s 7th annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon.
Liza: The fonts chosen were “Shadows Into Light” and “Shadows Into Light Two” because in
her speech, Lupita explains that she was insecure as a child and a teenager. Lupita did not
consider herself beautiful because most of society assumed only white people could be attractive.
This made Lupita believe she was not worthy, even to the point that she prayed for her skin color
to be changed. Because Lupita considered herself as someone “behind” the lighter colored race,
she can be compared to a shadow hiding behind a light or the white people. We chose the colors
black and white for our presentation because “Black Beauty” is focused on opinions of the
different races; African Americans and Whites.
Catherine: The title of Lupita Nyong'o’s speech is “Black Beauty”. Lupita titled this speech
“Black Beauty” because it gives a slight overview of her new confidence and the obstacles she
overcame. This connects to a story about a horse, entitled “Black Beauty”. This story is about
the life of a horse who was mistreated, which led to illness and injury. This hurt the horse
physically, just as the harsh comments of society about her skin color hurt Lupita mentally.
Lupita gave her speech at monumental timing. She wrote a speech about her feelings, how it is to
be a woman of color, and the effects it has on herself and others. Nyong’o discussed the topic of
everyone being beautiful because she has had past experiences involving the idea. She included a
story about when she was a young child and a teenager, she thought she was not beautiful
because of her dark skin color. She also included a letter from a girl stating that Lupita is lucky
to be so famous being her race and that Lupita has inspired her to become more confident in
herself. Lupita Nyong’o’s speech boosted the confidence of others, especially her audience at the
Black Women of Hollywood luncheon. During her speech, Lupita went through many emotions.
She both laughed and cried, which shows how much effect this topic has on her. She also spoke
with confidence, which made her words more powerful.
Catherine: Lupita Nyong’o made an impact on all the people that attended the Black Women of
Hollywood luncheon, not only the people that attended but those who watched from home. The
speech “Black Beauty’’ was not only directed to African Americans but everyone. In the world,
models and famous celebrities are glorified for their beauty and everyone aspires to look like
them. In magazines and news we see all the time how photoshop changes how someone really
looks and models are often judged if photoshop is not used. This is relevant because society
holds a standard as to how people should look and act.
Julia: Lupita Nyong’o gave this speech at the 7th annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon.
Many well known black celebrities attended this lunch, specifically Oprah Winfrey, who had a
large impact on Lupita when she interviewed black model, Alek Wek. When Lupita saw how
everyone reacted to her beauty, she began to become confident in herself. While Lupita gave
this speech, no one clapped, no one cheered, no one made a sound. Her words and her story
were too powerful to be drowned out by cheers. Everyone in the room felt a touch of sympathy
and joy for this woman who had found herself from originally thinking she was inferior because
of her skin color. After this speech was given in February 2014, the media took action to turn
around her opinions of herself. She was on People’s “50 Most Beautiful” issue in April 2014 and
started a lot of positive chatter in social media. In this speech, Lupita shared a portion of a letter
she received from a young girl who was inspired by her overnight Hollywood success. Not only
this speech, but Lupita’s overall personality changed the self image of many dark skinned people
of all ages. In addition, this speech boosted her confidence even more because of the positive
feedback she was getting from it.
Liza: Lupita Nyong’o includes many details about her past and how she felt as a child and
teenager about herself. She connects herself to the audience and explains all of the emotions she
felt. This makes the audience understand what she has been through, which creates a Pathos
appeal because it “tugs on their heartstrings” and makes them feel sympathetic that she had to go
through such a difficult time. The use of anecdotes in this speech is very significant because it
proves that Lupita Nyong’o, and many other people, have struggled with their appearance and it
makes the situation seem more real. Because Lupita Nyong’o used anecdotes more than any
other device in her speech, it shows how strong the effect can be on the audience, which is that it
can make them feel many emotions and give them an example of what she is trying to prove,
which is that all people are beautiful, no matter what their race is. Also, the main use of
anecdotes shows that Lupita Nyong’o wanted her audience to connect with her and persuade
them that they are beautiful as well. The anecdote also creates an ethos effect because Lupita
persuades her audience that they are beautiful and she is very credible, which is because she has
been through tough situations involving this subject. Because she has dealt with this situation her
entire life, it makes her dependable.
Julia: Lupita also used repetition. The repetition of the words “beauty” and “beautiful” show the
main focus of her speech. Because she repeats these words multiple times, the message that
everyone can be beautiful gets put in the minds of the audience and makes them focus more on
this idea. This creates an effect of logos because her message is consistent and effective. Lupita
provides evidence, by explaining that people did not have to have a certain skin color to be
beautiful, which she did not originally think because of the harsh, judgemental society. Lupita
adds that many other people have also called her beautiful. By repeating the words “beauty” and
“beautiful” so many times throughout her speech, her idea is supported. This also creates a
pathos appeal because the audience is connected to her message of not being beautiful or
confident, because everyone has had a time in their life when they do not feel secure about
themselves.
Catherine: The figurative language of Lupita Nyong’o’s speech makes the listener feel
sympathy for her and everyone that has been unhappy with the way they look. The figurative
language also makes the listener feel nothing but complete joy too because the images that she
creates brings the joy and happiness in her speech. When you listen to the speech you can hear it
in her as the story goes on how she begins to love herself and become more confident. When she
says, “But a flower cannot help but bloom inside of me” (Nyong’o 1), you can see her eyes light
up and her face became softer. The figurative language shows all emotion that Lupita Nyong’o
feels and felt, which is a pathos appeal.
Liza: The last rhetorical device is euphemisms. Lupita Nyong’o uses this technique because
even though she wants people to know her story and “tug people’s heart strings”, she did not
want people to feel sorry for her. She wanted people to be proud of her accomplishments of
finding herself and her beauty. By making the situation sound better than it actually was, it
creates a pathos persuasive appeal. This is because listening to someone tell their negative past in
a positive way is found as inspiring. Euphemisms also show how much she overcame by using
less intense words to make it seem not as big of big of a deal such as using “night-shaded skin”
instead of just black.