Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women's Speeches from the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century

by Janet Dewart Bell

An uplifting collection of speeches by African American women, curated by the civil and human rights activist, scholar, and author

"Bell reminds readers that one story is never enough to truly explain a movement."--Shelf Awareness


When Mary Ann Shadd Cary--the first Black woman publisher in North America--declared, "break every yoke . . . let the oppressed go free" to congregants in Chatham, Canada, in 1858, she joined a tradition of African American women speaking for their own liberation. Drawing from a rich archive of political speeches, acclaimed activist and author Janet Dewart Bell explores this tradition in Blackbirds Singing, a soaring new--and gorgeously packaged--collection of African American women's speeches.

Gathering an array of recognized names as well as some new discoveries, Janet Dewart Bell curates public addresses by Black women beginning in the nineteenth century and extending to the twenty-first century. Author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement, a nominee for the NAACP Image Award, Bell highlights Black women speaking truth to power in service of freedom and justice. From Harriet Tubman to Barbara Lee, Josephine Baker to Barbara Jordan, these magnificent speakers explore ethics, morality, courage, authenticity, and leadership. Bell's substantive introductions provide rich new context for each woman's speech.

With an expansive historical lens, Blackbirds Singing celebrates the tradition of Black women's political speech and labor, allowing the voices and powerful visions of African American women to speak across generations building power for the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Essays

256 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2022

About the author

Janet Dewart Bell is a social justice activist with a doctorate in leadership and change from Antioch University. She founded the Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society series at the New York University School of Law in honor of her late husband and is the author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (The New Press). An award-winning television and radio producer, she lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative collection of speeches by black women - it is enlightening to read the direct words of women whose names and actions I've heard of. What struck me almost right away was how these women have been telling us things for over 150 years and are still telling us the same things, and they are still relevant. In addition, some interesting differences were highlighted between our times and theirs. For example, one nineteenth century speaker (I would have to go back through the book to see which one) suggested that white women ought to realize black women would be their strongest allies in preventing the mixing of the races - because of course at that time the main reason for the existence of multiracial people was white men raping enslaved women.

In one or two cases I wondered whether the final proofreading hadn't been done, because one of the early speeches, which would not be transcribed from audio, had passages that were basically incoherent, and that did not seem likely to exist in the original. I hope this important resource will receive another proofread.

[Haerlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description
An uplifting collection of speeches by African American women, curated by the civil and human rights activist, scholar, and authors.

Gathering an array of recognized names as well as new discoveries, Bell curates two centuries of stirring public addresses by Black women, from Harriet Tubman and Ella Baker to Barbara Lee and Barbara Jordan. These magnificent speakers explore ethics, morality, courage, authenticity, and leadership, highlighting Black women speaking truth to power in service of freedom and justice.

With an expansive historical lens, Blackbirds Singing celebrates the tradition of Black women’s political speech and labor, allowing the voices and powerful visions of African American women to speak across generations building power for the world.

My thoughts:
This book delivers on the promise of the description. One thing that I appreciated was that the speeches were presented in it's original form, with words crossed out and all. These timely speeches are a great reference and inspiration in today's dark times. I found myself highlighting passages that I will share and meditate on.

[ISRA · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75

I went into this book open minded however it wasn’t quite what I expected. A few of the early essays or speeches were fragmented and hard to follow as they seemed to lack a coherent structure beside God & race. The speeches aren’t in order by chronological year or subject just by speaker - which makes for a jarring & jumpy experience from speech to speech, year to year, back and forth, as well as making the reading repetitive as some discuss the same thing but from a different stance or literal setting. Formatting aside some speeches are very very God or bible oriented and for someone who is more spiritual it was a bit much for me at times. In between speeches I think there could have been more exposition rather than a just brief bio in the speaker(s) to make the reading fluid and explain the author’s reasoning for the speech’s inclusion in the book rather than leaving it to the reader to surmise. For all those reasons combined it was tough to get through.

[Tara Aldridge]

This is such a necessary book for the times we live in right now. The beautiful orators of truth and history spoke of how to resolve the problems we now face in 2025 over a century ago and throughout modern history. Kudos to Janet Dewart Bell for assembling these essays and speeches in a collection that showcases the intellect, strength, and leadership of black women throughout history. I hope that in 100 years, there is a book that will showcase the strong black women leaders of our generation and time. Great read!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly crafted collection of speeches by influential black woman. I was hoping to read some historical background on each woman as well, but the book didn’t provide that. Still, the speeches were educational and inspirational. I feel many history teachers could benefit from reading some of these speeches to their classes. This is for all audiences to understand a woman’s struggle, not only black women.
Thank you #goodreads giveaway

[Mallory]

These covered quite a range of time and topics. I saw it in the museum store of the National Museum of African American Culture and History earlier this year and wanted to look it up at the library upon returning home. I did skim some of the readings, but on the whole, they were fairly short and make an interesting collection.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable women who gave very inspiring and motivational speeches in the late 19th century and early 20th. Very revelent for women of today, as well.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A broad collection speeches and poems from Black American women, I wish there was more context or discussion of impact of each of the speeches.

[Gayle]

I haven't finished this book yet; had to return it to the library. Hoping to pick it up again sometime. I enjoyed the speeches I was able to read.

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful. Everything about it was thoughtful and intentional.