The will of a people : a critical anthology of great African American speeches

466 Pages·2012·2.41 MB·English

by  Duffy

‘‘
Leeman The Will
rhetoric / african american studies ‘‘
and Duffy

“Nothing less than the canon of African American eloquence! The speeches in
The Will of a People brilliantly articulate the immense moral authority of the
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freedom struggle. They reveal much about America’s changing conceptions of h
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hierarchy, equality, caste and class, and our national obsession with race.”
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of a People
—Andrew King, Hopkins Professor of Communication,
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Louisiana State University l
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“Professors Leeman and Duffy have once again brought together a selection
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of important rhetorical artifacts. This volume will be required reading for all e
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students and scholars of the theory, history, and criticism of public address who p
are interested in the transformative powers of the spoken word.” le A Critical
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—Mark Lawrence McPhail, author of The Rhetoric of A

Racism Revisited: Reparations or Separation? C
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rawing upon nearly two hundred years of recorded African American oratory, c
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The Will of a People brings together in one unique volume twenty-two of the most l

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noteworthy speeches, each paired with a comprehensive introduction designed n Anthology of
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to highlight its most significant elements. From Maria Miller Stewart’s 1832 speech h
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“Why Sit Ye Here and Die?” to President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural address, l
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these carefully selected orations are closely tied to the key themes, issues, and events g
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of American history and race relations. This substantial collection will serve as an
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essential guide to the African American oratorical tradition. f

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Great African
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Richard W. Leeman, a professor of communication studies at the University of North
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Carolina at Charlotte, is the author or editor of five books, including African-American t
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Orators: A BioCritical Sourcebook (1996) and (with Bernard Duffy) American Voices: An f
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Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Orators (2005). He has received several awards ic
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and has served as a scholar-in-residence for an NEH-sponsored summer seminar on
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African American oratory.  A American Speeches
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Bernard K. Duffy, a professor of rhetoric in the communication studies department r
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at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, is the author or editor of
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six books, including American Orators of the Twentieth Century: Critical Studies and n

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Sources (1987), and has been a coeditor or an advisor for thirty-two books on individual p
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American orators published by Greenwood Press.
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southern illinois university press $49.95 usd e
isbn 0-8093-3057-1 s Edited with introductions by
1915 university press drive
isbn 978-0-8093-3057-7
mail code 6806
Southern
carbondale, il 62901
Illinois Richard W. Leeman and Bernard K. Duffy
www.siupress.com University
Press
Printed in the United States of America
Leeman.Duffy mech.indd 1 12/15/11 10:15 AM
The Will of a People

‘‘
‘‘
The Will of a People
A Critical Anthology
of Great African
American Speeches
Edited with Introductions by
Richard W. Leeman and
Bernard K. Duffy
Southern Illinois University Press
Carbondale and Edwardsville
Copyright © 2012 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Vernon Johns, “Rock Foundations,” reprinted by permission of the Johns family. Martin Luther King,
Jr., “I Have a Dream,” reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King,
Jr., c/o Writers House as agent for the proprietor, New York, NY, copyright © 1963 Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr; copyright renewed 1991 Coretta Scott King. Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” copyright
© 1965, 1989 by Betty Shabazz and Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission. Stokely Carmichael,
“Black Power,” reprinted by permission of Mabel Carmichael, copyright © 1971. Martin Luther King,
Jr., “A Time to Break Silence,” reprinted by arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther
King, Jr., c/o Writers House as agent for the proprietor, New York, NY, copyright © 1967 Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr; copyright renewed 1991 Coretta Scott King. Speech by Marian Wright Edelman de-
livered to the National Education Association’s 23rd Annual Conference on Human and Civil Rights
in Education on February 22, 1985, reprinted by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The will of a people: a critical anthology of great African American speeches / edited by Richard W.
Leeman and Bernard K. Duffy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-3057-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8093-3057-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-9073-1 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 0-8093-9073-6 (ebook)
1. Speeches, addresses, etc., American—African American authors. 2. African Americans—
History—Sources. 3. African American orators. I. Leeman, Richard W. II. Duffy, Bernard K.
PS663.N4W45 2011
815'.0080896073—dc23 2011016452
Printed on recycled paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
Our scholarship has been influenced by many teachers, mentors, and
colleagues. Among these, we especially acknowledge Professors Jim St. Clair,
Lyndrey Niles, Robert P. Newman, and Philip Wander, whose scholarly
accomplishments and commitment to their students lit the path for our own
professional lives. We dedicate this book to these four remarkable teachers.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Maria W. Miller Stewart, Lecture, Delivered at the Franklin Hall (1832) 10
Henry Highland Garnet, An Address to the Slaves of the United States of
America (1843)   22
Sojourner Truth, A’n’t I a Woman? (1851) 38
Frederick Douglass, What to the American Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852) 49
Henry McNeal Turner, I Claim the Rights of a Man (1868) 83
Frederick Douglass, Oration on the Occasion of the Dedication of the Lincoln
Monument (1876) 111
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Duty to Dependent Races (1891) 133
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1893) 149
Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address (1895) 174
Mary Church Terrell, What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the United
States (1906) 188
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Disfranchisement (1912) 205
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, The Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (1922)   221
Vernon Johns, Rock Foundations (1926) 240
Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream (1963) 254
Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet (1964) 268
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Black Power (1966) 295
Martin Luther King Jr., A Time to Break Silence (1967) 320
vviiii
viii contents
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, It Is Time to Reassess Our National Priorities
(1969) 346
Barbara Charline Jordan, Speech on Watergate to the House Judiciary
Committee (1974) 357
Jesse Louis Jackson, Speech to the Democratic National Convention (1984) 372
Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Legislative Issues (1985) 394
Barack Hussein Obama, Inaugural Address (2009) 412
Notes 431
Sources 447
Index 449
S
N
viii
Acknowledgments
Completing any book requires the cooperation of many people. An anthol-
ogy would not be possible without the generosity of those who granted
permissions to publish the speeches contained in this volume. Many authors,
family members, and agents granted permissions gratis or at a reduced cost.
We hope that their generosity will be amply repaid as new generations are
inspired by the rich legacy of African American oratory. We are grateful for
the assistance provided us by librarians and archivists and for the work of
scholars who preceded us in heralding the importance of African American
speakers and speeches in American history.
We thank Dr. Karl Kageff, editor-in-chief at Southern Illinois University
Press, for graciously encouraging us to undertake this book; also project
editor Wayne Larsen; copy editor Kathleen Kageff; and other talented pro-
fessionals at the press, including Barbara Martin and Bridget Brown.
We are grateful to our students for reading draft material used in our
classes and for their enthusiastic interest. Our respective institutions rec-
ognized the value of our study and provided as much support as possible in
a crippled economy. Graduate students Kathy Taylor and Nicole Ramsey, at
the University of North Carolina–Charlotte, helped us find and verify speech
texts, track down rights holders, and secure permissions. Jill Fitzgerald at
Cal Poly provided technical support. Gracious colleagues, including profes-
sors Shawn Long and Richard Besel, listened to our musings as the project
took shape. Finally we thank our wives, professors Susan Duffy and Carol
Leeman, and our children, Chris and Greg Leeman and Elizabeth Duffy,
for their patience as we completed this project over the course of five years.
ix