By Anna Gibbs
Whether it be a speech, a poem, or an op-ed, words carry power. Words share experiences, inspire empathy, and evoke emotion. Words change minds. They can have huge impacts, be it new legislation or cultural shifts. When thinking about writing that has made a difference, you might first think of speeches, like Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. But every type of writing can lead to real change.
Let’s look at some examples.
Letter to the Editor and Op-Ed
The cool thing about letters to the editor and op-eds is that anyone can write one and reach a large audience — some larger than others. Twelve-year-old Julianne Speyer’s viral letter to her local newspaper in Ohio reached millions of people across the country. She had written to the editor about sexist comments made at a Fourth of July parade.
The organizers of the parade responded by calling the comments an “unfortunate misunderstanding.” But Speyer’s letter resonated with people around the country and illuminated implicit sexism that affects girls of all ages. The most important impact of letters like Speyer’s may be their ability to affect individuals’ opinions. A 2019 study found evidence that opinion pieces do, in fact, change minds: a randomized experiment with 3,567 participants showed that newspaper op-eds had “large and long-lasting effects” on people’s beliefs.
Letter
In 1920, women were on the brink of securing the right to vote. But to do so, three-fourths of states—36 total—needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Thirty-five states had ratified the amendment. Tennessee was the 36th state slated for a vote, and the House was split straight down the middle. On the morning of the vote, Tennessee House Representative Harry Thomas Burn woke up planning to vote against women’s suffrage. To everyone’s surprise, he went on to cast the deciding vote in favor of the amendment.
He later explained that he had received a letter from his mother, Febb Ensminger Burn, urging him to vote for women’s suffrage. He carried the letter in his jacket pocket to the polls, and ultimately his mother’s words were the tipping point for him. Mrs. Burn’s letter changed the course of history that day.
Speech
Most of us have heard Greta Thunberg’s fervent speech that she gave at the UN last year. (If you haven’t already listened to it, check it out here.) But have her words made a real impact? Climate scientists all agree: Yes! Sally Benson, co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, believes that Thunberg is mobilizing other young people to join in the fight. “We’re seeing more grassroots action, and she’s creating a movement where young people are pushing communities, cities, states and corporations and saying, ‘we’re not going to wait,’” Benson said.
On March 15, 2019, Thunberg led more than 1 million students from 123 countries to strike from Friday classes to protest inaction on climate change. She continues to lead student strikes every Friday.
Novel
In 1906, American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair published his book “The Jungle” as an exposé on the terrible working conditions in meat-packing factories. Though the narrative was fictional, the meat-packing descriptions were based on Sinclair’s real visits to the factories, where he witnessed rotten meat being mixed with sawdust, chemicals, and mouse droppings. His words reached the desk of President Theodore Roosevelt, who sent the Labor Commissioner and a social worker to Chicago to investigate the meat-packing facilities.
What they found would lead to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, which eventually established the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the organization that approves safety for food and drugs today.
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A teacher once told me: “Writing is a form of civic action.”
Please keep writing, dear writers. You’re changing the world, one word at a time.