‘‘ 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 T freedom struggle. They reveal much about America’s changing conceptions of h e hierarchy, equality, caste and class, and our national obsession with race.” W of a People —Andrew King, Hopkins Professor of Communication, i l Louisiana State University l o f a “Professors Leeman and Duffy have once again brought together a selection P of important rhetorical artifacts. This volume will be required reading for all e o 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 : —Mark Lawrence McPhail, author of The Rhetoric of A Racism Revisited: Reparations or Separation? C r i D t i rawing upon nearly two hundred years of recorded African American oratory, c a The Will of a People brings together in one unique volume twenty-two of the most l A noteworthy speeches, each paired with a comprehensive introduction designed n Anthology of t to highlight its most significant elements. From Maria Miller Stewart’s 1832 speech h o “Why Sit Ye Here and Die?” to President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural address, l o these carefully selected orations are closely tied to the key themes, issues, and events g y of American history and race relations. This substantial collection will serve as an o essential guide to the African American oratorical tradition. f G Great African r e Richard W. Leeman, a professor of communication studies at the University of North a Carolina at Charlotte, is the author or editor of five books, including African-American t A Orators: A BioCritical Sourcebook (1996) and (with Bernard Duffy) American Voices: An f r Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Orators (2005). He has received several awards ic a and has served as a scholar-in-residence for an NEH-sponsored summer seminar on n African American oratory.  A American Speeches m e Bernard K. Duffy, a professor of rhetoric in the communication studies department r i c at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, is the author or editor of a six books, including American Orators of the Twentieth Century: Critical Studies and n S Sources (1987), and has been a coeditor or an advisor for thirty-two books on individual p e American orators published by Greenwood Press. e c h 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