In 1998 a man named James Byrd was drugged out of a pickup truck in Texas and torn to pieces. Ashraf Rushdy wrote an essay to examine the moral authority of photography and the effect it has on a population's view of a tragedy. Rushdy's thesis is that in 1955, when Emmett Till was murdered, his mother allowed photographs of her son's mutilated corpse to be displayed across the nation. These photographs had a significant effect on the course of the civil rights movement. Rushdy asks why James Byrd's photographs have never been exhibited to the public and provides a convincing answer to this question. Provides the answer through the use of persuasive appeals, diction, and visual effects provided through the use of photographs throughout the essay. When you first look at the essay there is one thing that is very obvious on its first page; that would be the image of Emmett Till's deformed body lying bloated and lynched in his coffin. The image strikes an unforgettable image in the reader's head that is meant to instill the question of how exactly someone could do this to another human being, despite it being a 14 year old teenager. The image evokes some strong feelings that most people cannot ignore or suppress; these feelings include disgust, anger, fear, and sadness. These feelings are evident in the image due to the graphic nature of the image and the memories it evokes in readers of past situations they have endured. Being part of the first page of the essay is what makes this rhetorical device so effective, as it puts a picture in the reader's mind of what African American descent had to endure during that time period and continued to endure in the years to come. The image itself had a huge impact on civil rights... in the middle of the newspaper ...inside the journalism headquarters that tries to keep the world from seeing the cruelties it has to offer by censoring the newspaper and television that it makes the story seem less than it actually is. All Rushdy is trying to demonstrate in this article and using these anecdotes is that by showing the world what is really happening, it will spark an outcry from people that will ultimately lead to change. Overall, Rushdy's essay is loaded with a multitude of rhetorical devices that make his essay very effective because it leaves so many emotions in the reader. Doing so is the best device in itself because it will leave an impact on the reader that is generally positive because of how it makes them feel about the topic under discussion. This essay was very effective in achieving its purpose due to the many different rhetorical devices.