In December 2009, less than one year into his first term in office, President Barack Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize, joining a only two other U.S. Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who received the prize while in officer. Former President Jimmy Carter … Read More(2009) Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, “A Just and Lasting Peace”
In a July 1918 editorial in The Crisis, W.E.B. Du Bois urged African Americans to set aside their differences with their countrymen over the nation’s treatment of its black citizens and “close ranks” in the war against Imperial Germany and its Allies. Ten months later, … Read More(1919) W.E.B. Du Bois, “Returning Soldiers,” Editorial from The Crisis
“If We Must Die,” written in 1919 by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay, became for many African Americans an anthem for resistance against the anti-black violence then sweeping the nation. His words appear below. If we must die—let it not be like hogs Hunted and … Read More(1919) “If We Must Die”
The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program Written October 15, 1966 1. We Want Freedom. We Want Power to Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community. We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny. 2. We Want … Read More(1966) The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program
On May 19, 2017, New Orleans, Louisiana Mayor Mitch Landrieu addressed an audience in his city as a backdrop and explanation of the city’s recent decision to remove statues of General Robert E. Lee and other Confederate military and political leaders from public squares in … Read More(2017) New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Address on the Removal of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans
On January 14, 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel gave the speech “Religion and Race,” at a conference of the same name that assembled in Chicago, Illinois. There he met Dr. Martin Luther King and the two became friends. Rabbi Heschel marched with Dr. King at … Read More(1963) Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race”
On May 20, 1893, women’s activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper gave this speech before the World’s Congress of Representative Women, meeting in their conference in Chicago, Illinois. Image Ownership: Public domain If before sin had cast its deepest shadows or sorrow had distilled its bitterest … Read More(1893) Frances E.W. Harper, “Woman’s Political Future”
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Most scholars of today imagine Booker T. Washington as the major accommodationist and black political conservative of the era. There were others including Professor William Hooper Councill, the founder and first President of the Huntsville Normal School which today is Alabama … Read More(1901) William Hooper Councill’s Letter to the White People of Alabama
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Glenn C. Loury delivered this presentation at Hillsdale College on November 7, 1982, as part of a Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar entitled, “Ethnic America: Melting Pot or Mosaic?” One of the great myths of our time is the belief in … Read More(1983) Glenn Loury, “Responsibility and Race”
In the speech below conservative critic Anne Wortham challenges the central theme of universal brotherhood as promoted in Dr. Martin Luther King’s often quoted “I Have A Dream Speech.” She argues that King failed to recognize individual success and failure as the causes of racial … Read More(1998) Anne Wortham, “Martin Luther King’s Flawed Dream”