Soapbox
is a temporary platform employed while making a spontaneous or nonofficial
public speech. The term starts off from the days when speakers would raise
themselves by standing on a wooden crate initially used for shipment of soap or
other dry goods from a manufacturer to a retail store. In public places like
London’s Hyde Park Individuals can advocate one cause or another. Some speakers
in these public forums will carry a ‘soapbox’ to project their voice and to be
spotted by those who might come together.
During
the 19th century and into the 20th, before the invention of corrugated
fiberboard, manufacturers employed wooden crates for the shipment of wholesale
merchandise to retail establishments. Discarded containers of all sizes were
readily obtainable in most towns. These “soapboxes” made free and easily handy
temporary platforms for street corner speakers trying to be seen and heard at
improvised “outdoor meeting,” to which passersby would meet to hear frequently
provocative speeches on political or religious themes.
