If I had a thousand tongues and each tongue were a thousand thunderbolts and each thunderbolt had a thousand voices, I would use them all today to help you understand a loyal and misrepresented and misjudged people.” These were the words of Joseph C. Price, founder and President of Livingston College in North Carolina, who in 1890 delivered an address to the National Education Association annual convention held in Minneapolis. Price’s words reflect on the long tradition of African American oratory. Listed below are some of the most significant orations by African Americans with links to the actual speeches.
Antebellum African Americans took enormous pride in Haiti. The nation of the enslaved rose in rebellion in 1791 and on January 1, 1804 won its independence from France. At that moment the Republic of Haiti was born as the first black republic in the world, … Read More(1826) John B. Russwurm, “The Condition and Prospects of Haiti”
In 1827 Rev. Nathaniel Paul, a minister in Albany, New York, hails the final abolition of slavery in that state. His address given on July 5, 1827 in Albany marks that occassion. The address appears below. We look forward with pleasing anticipation to that period, when … Read More(1827) Rev. Nathaniel Paul Hails The End Of Slavery In New York
David Walker (1796-1830) is best known for his revolutionary pamphlet, Walker’s Appeal, in Four Ariticles: together with a preamble, to the coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very expressly to those of the United States of America. This twenty-six-page pamphlet warned of … Read More(1828) David Walker, “The Necessity of A General Union Among Us”
Fourteen years after its founding the American Colonization Society remained controversial among African Americans. By 1830 many of them opposed it and more generally the idea of forced or voluntary repatriation of blacks to Africa. One of these opponents, Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., the minister … Read More(1830) Rev. Peter Williams, Jr. “This is Our Country”
In September 1832, Maria W. Stewart delivered at Boston’s Franklin Hall one of the first public lectures ever given by an American woman. Her speech, directed to the women of the African American Female Intelligence Society, called on black women to acquire equality through education. … Read More(1832) Maria W. Stewart Advocates Education for African American Women
Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879) was one of the first American women to leave copies of her speeches. The address below is her second public lecture. It was given on September 21, 1832 in Franklin Hall in Boston, the meeting site of the new England Anti-Slavery … Read More(1832) Maria W. Stewart, “Why Sit Ye Here and Die?”
By the early 1830s Philadelphia resident Sarah Mapps. Douglas had emerged as one of the few black women who spoke in public to support the anti-slavery cause. In the summer of 1832 she addressed the Female Literary Society of Philadelphia, urging her listeners to focus … Read More(1832) Sarah Mapps Douglas Urges Support for the Anti-Slavery Cause
On February 27, 1833 Maria W. Stewart gave this speech before a racially integrated audience at the African Masonic Hall in Boston. AFRICAN RIGHTS and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, … Read More(1833) Maria W. Stewart, “An Address at the African Masonic Hall”
By the 1830s William Whipper was a successful Pennsylvania lumberman. He was also an abolitionist and temperance advocate. Whipper’s interest in temperance reflected a growing concern among African American leaders about the impact of alcohol on the free (and enslaved) African American population. By 1831 … Read More(1834) William Whipper, “The Slavery of Intemperance”
James Forten, Jr. was the son of Charlotte and James E. Forten, prominent Philadelphia abolitionists and as such was part of a second generation of three generations of political activists. Raised in this remarkable family, James Forten, Jr., became politically active at an early age. … Read More(1836) James Forten, Jr. “Put on the Armour of Righteousness”
