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Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches
A moving portrait of how black Americans have spoken out against injustice—with speeches by Thurgood Marshall, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, and more. In “full-throated public oratory, the kind that can stir the soul”, this unique anthology collects the transcribed speeches of the twentieth century’s leading African American cultural, literary, and political figures, many never before available in printed form (Minneapolis Star-Tribune). From an 1895 speech by Booker T. Washington to Julian Bond’s sharp assessment of school segregation on the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board in 2004, the collection captures a powerful tradition of oratory—by political activists, civil rights organizers, celebrities, and religious leaders—going back more than a century. Including the text of each speech with an introduction placing it in historical context, Say It Plain is a remarkable record—from the back-to-Africa movement to the civil rights era and the rise of black nationalism and beyond—conveying a struggle for freedom and a challenge to America to live up to its democratic principles. Includes speeches Mary McLeod BethuneJulian BondStokely CarmichaelShirley ChisholmLouis FarrakhanMarcus GarveyJesse JacksonMartin Luther King Jr.Thurgood MarshallBooker T. WashingtonWalter White
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 10, 2022
An important and rich collection that addresses the most pressing and pernicious realities of race and racism in the US.
I strongly recommend reading it with an internet connection, and reading one speech at a time. The nuance with which they are composed and the gravity of their content demands that you investigate the context in which the speeches are given. Moreover, since there is no such thing as THE African American position, conviction, or objective, the particulars of the historical moment and orator speaking are integral to understanding their message.
A must read.
I strongly recommend reading it with an internet connection, and reading one speech at a time. The nuance with which they are composed and the gravity of their content demands that you investigate the context in which the speeches are given. Moreover, since there is no such thing as THE African American position, conviction, or objective, the particulars of the historical moment and orator speaking are integral to understanding their message.
A must read.
September 30, 2023
Very disappointed with this book, not because of the content but the lack thereof.
The African-American middle class is very well represented here, but that is all. Every NAACP moderate since Walter White has a speech included. Who doesn't? W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Turner, William M. Trotter, Rap Brown, Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, George Jackson, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, none of them. The only radicals represented here are Marcus Garvey (arguably a radical conservative rather than regular radical), Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Ture, and very arguably Louis Farrakhan.
The representation of African-American thought is very skewed in favor of liberal views, in favor of the black middle-class. Very disappointing.
The African-American middle class is very well represented here, but that is all. Every NAACP moderate since Walter White has a speech included. Who doesn't? W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Turner, William M. Trotter, Rap Brown, Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, George Jackson, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, none of them. The only radicals represented here are Marcus Garvey (arguably a radical conservative rather than regular radical), Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Ture, and very arguably Louis Farrakhan.
The representation of African-American thought is very skewed in favor of liberal views, in favor of the black middle-class. Very disappointing.
February 13, 2026
This book brought home to me some of the continuing debates and tensions among Black leaders from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the twenty-first.
Should Black people demand that the U.S. provide them with the respect, the rights, and the reparations they are due, and overdue? Or should Black people give up on white Americans ever doing that and concentrate on building prosperity and power on their own (either here or in Africa)?
In a related vein: can Black people speak from either their religious faith or their dedication to the proposition that all of us are created equal and call America to its destiny? Or are they fools for believing in America?
What roles can education, economics, and politics play? Is there a reason to trust Democrats over Republicans ever since the Civil Rights Movement, or have people like Bill Clinton abused Black people's trust?
Learning about these controversies from some of the people most vocally engaged in them is one excellent reason to read this book. Another is to hear their voices.
I picked this book up because the excellent Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire recommended it as an accompaniment to their "Echoes of Power" series of programs on Black oratory. A key theme the series wants us to hear is that words and deeds are not two separate things. Speaking up, speaking out, speaking truth to power...all of these speech acts invigorate the speaker and the audience and create the determination to act in ways that will bend the arc of the universe toward justice. (After all, in the Hebrew Bible that Christians have inherited, God creates the world in the first place by speaking!)
Therefore, the words on the page are good to read, but the editors have brought those words to life by including recordings of the speeches on two CD's attached to the printed volume. It makes a difference to hear how the orators inflect those words, how they adjust to the audience in a call and response relationship. Indeed, it would have been best to be there in person and participate in the speeches by responding! Short of that, however, listen to the CD's or stream the recordings online from the Say It Plain, Say It Loud website.
On that site, you will find that the editors improved the original volume both by adding recordings they did not at first have permission to include (e.g., Malcolm X) and by adding more twenty-first century speakers (not only President Barack Obama but also Mary Frances Berry and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I hope to read the second volume soon.
For me, there was a third reason I benefited from this book: it let me relive and reflect on recent history. "Recent," of course, is a relative term. I was born in 1958, so the first of these speakers I heard in real time was U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan, at the Watergate impeachment hearings.
That was in 1974. Twenty years later, I was teaching political science at a fairly conservative and nearly all white (or part Native American) college in New Hampshire, when Professor Lani Guinier (whom her supposed friend Bill Clinton had nominated for a job in his administration) was ruthlessly defamed by Republicans for views she never held. I recall asking my colleagues--not students, but other Ph.D. holders--"Have you actually read what she wrote? Because I have, and it's based on principles that old white guys like James Madison in The Federalist Papers would recognize and approve!" The silver lining to the (as we say today) "cancelling" of Lani Guinier is that she was able to put her ideas out to a wider audience and teach another generation of students how to listen better.
I appreciated Guinier even more when I read this book, and I despised Clarence Thomas for his eloquent hypocrisy.
Should Black people demand that the U.S. provide them with the respect, the rights, and the reparations they are due, and overdue? Or should Black people give up on white Americans ever doing that and concentrate on building prosperity and power on their own (either here or in Africa)?
In a related vein: can Black people speak from either their religious faith or their dedication to the proposition that all of us are created equal and call America to its destiny? Or are they fools for believing in America?
What roles can education, economics, and politics play? Is there a reason to trust Democrats over Republicans ever since the Civil Rights Movement, or have people like Bill Clinton abused Black people's trust?
Learning about these controversies from some of the people most vocally engaged in them is one excellent reason to read this book. Another is to hear their voices.
I picked this book up because the excellent Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire recommended it as an accompaniment to their "Echoes of Power" series of programs on Black oratory. A key theme the series wants us to hear is that words and deeds are not two separate things. Speaking up, speaking out, speaking truth to power...all of these speech acts invigorate the speaker and the audience and create the determination to act in ways that will bend the arc of the universe toward justice. (After all, in the Hebrew Bible that Christians have inherited, God creates the world in the first place by speaking!)
Therefore, the words on the page are good to read, but the editors have brought those words to life by including recordings of the speeches on two CD's attached to the printed volume. It makes a difference to hear how the orators inflect those words, how they adjust to the audience in a call and response relationship. Indeed, it would have been best to be there in person and participate in the speeches by responding! Short of that, however, listen to the CD's or stream the recordings online from the Say It Plain, Say It Loud website.
On that site, you will find that the editors improved the original volume both by adding recordings they did not at first have permission to include (e.g., Malcolm X) and by adding more twenty-first century speakers (not only President Barack Obama but also Mary Frances Berry and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I hope to read the second volume soon.
For me, there was a third reason I benefited from this book: it let me relive and reflect on recent history. "Recent," of course, is a relative term. I was born in 1958, so the first of these speakers I heard in real time was U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan, at the Watergate impeachment hearings.
That was in 1974. Twenty years later, I was teaching political science at a fairly conservative and nearly all white (or part Native American) college in New Hampshire, when Professor Lani Guinier (whom her supposed friend Bill Clinton had nominated for a job in his administration) was ruthlessly defamed by Republicans for views she never held. I recall asking my colleagues--not students, but other Ph.D. holders--"Have you actually read what she wrote? Because I have, and it's based on principles that old white guys like James Madison in The Federalist Papers would recognize and approve!" The silver lining to the (as we say today) "cancelling" of Lani Guinier is that she was able to put her ideas out to a wider audience and teach another generation of students how to listen better.
I appreciated Guinier even more when I read this book, and I despised Clarence Thomas for his eloquent hypocrisy.
July 7, 2022
A collection of inspiring speeches by prominent African Americans. There is context and brief history given by the author before each speech which is really helpful and sort of an amuse bouche to the speech and greater Black History. And that’s one of the key takeaways from this book for me. I need to read/learn more Black History because schools and many colleges certainly don’t teach it in mainstream classes, if at all.
This was my first time reading speeches and at times I found it to be dense and tiring. If one has not heard these individuals speak or seen/heard recordings, it is a challenge to do so in context and one must really imagine what it must be like which takes away from really getting into the speeches. This is not the fault of the book, as it is beyond its scope but serves as a challenge for one to get the most out of it. It’s a difficulty I had and why this is four stars.
This was my first time reading speeches and at times I found it to be dense and tiring. If one has not heard these individuals speak or seen/heard recordings, it is a challenge to do so in context and one must really imagine what it must be like which takes away from really getting into the speeches. This is not the fault of the book, as it is beyond its scope but serves as a challenge for one to get the most out of it. It’s a difficulty I had and why this is four stars.
March 23, 2018
Every home should have a read aloud package of books this one is essential
May 28, 2013
Plainly Stated
Say It Plain is a must-have addition to anyone's library of African-American literature. The speeches included in this book/audio CD allow the reader/listener to delve into the thoughts of some of the greatest African-American orators of the past century. To reflect upon what was said decades ago and quickly come to the realization that what was stated then can still be said today and still be relevant is simply amazing, if not unsettling. For example, more than a quarter of a century ago Rev. Joseph Lowery spoke on issues such as the rising rate of Black unemployment, the lack of Black leaders in American government and the ratio of the Black population in the United States (11%, at the time) to number of enlisted persons in the military who were black (33.3%, at the time).
Although Say It Plain misses the mark by excluding of one of the most powerful African-American orators, Malcom X, it is still nonetheless comprehensive. One should appreciate the diverse group of orators who are included; from Marcus Garvey and his Black Separatist views to Clarence Thomas and his politically conservative views. Moreover, listening to the accompanying audio CD, one will get a sense of the different oratory styles: Jesse Jackson's inspirational "I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me.", Dick Gregory's comedic "...the good old days was 10 B.C., 15 B.C. .........10, 15 years before Bull Connor.", and Johnetta B. Cole's charge to her African-American sisters to "Defend Thy Name".
Say It Plain is not just twenty-plus speeches that were transcribed, placed in chronological order, and sold as a book. Before each speech there is a brief introduction that provides the reader with some context: a historical perspective of the speaker, the events of the time, or simply when, where and why the speech was given. In many cases, this brief introduction is as significant as the speech itself.
All in all, I would suggest taking a refresher course in African-American history - with a twist - and read and listen to Say It Plain. Your mind and spirit will thank you for it.
Say It Plain is a must-have addition to anyone's library of African-American literature. The speeches included in this book/audio CD allow the reader/listener to delve into the thoughts of some of the greatest African-American orators of the past century. To reflect upon what was said decades ago and quickly come to the realization that what was stated then can still be said today and still be relevant is simply amazing, if not unsettling. For example, more than a quarter of a century ago Rev. Joseph Lowery spoke on issues such as the rising rate of Black unemployment, the lack of Black leaders in American government and the ratio of the Black population in the United States (11%, at the time) to number of enlisted persons in the military who were black (33.3%, at the time).
Although Say It Plain misses the mark by excluding of one of the most powerful African-American orators, Malcom X, it is still nonetheless comprehensive. One should appreciate the diverse group of orators who are included; from Marcus Garvey and his Black Separatist views to Clarence Thomas and his politically conservative views. Moreover, listening to the accompanying audio CD, one will get a sense of the different oratory styles: Jesse Jackson's inspirational "I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me.", Dick Gregory's comedic "...the good old days was 10 B.C., 15 B.C. .........10, 15 years before Bull Connor.", and Johnetta B. Cole's charge to her African-American sisters to "Defend Thy Name".
Say It Plain is not just twenty-plus speeches that were transcribed, placed in chronological order, and sold as a book. Before each speech there is a brief introduction that provides the reader with some context: a historical perspective of the speaker, the events of the time, or simply when, where and why the speech was given. In many cases, this brief introduction is as significant as the speech itself.
All in all, I would suggest taking a refresher course in African-American history - with a twist - and read and listen to Say It Plain. Your mind and spirit will thank you for it.
January 23, 2014
A lovely collection of speeches. I can't listen to Martin Luther King Jr's last speech without weeping. Knowing what's next is so sad after hearing what he has done, and knowing what he wanted to accomplish. I was a child when Barbara Jordan spoke at the House Watergate Hearings and it was something that struck me even as a child and I've treasured her words ever since. Listen to this one. It's well worth it.
December 11, 2012
A moving collection of some of the best Black speeches given in a appropriate historical context.
Read
August 31, 2007Haven't started it yet but am about to...
November 26, 2008
The best part is that the book comes with CDs that have the audio recordings of the speeches.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews