Make it Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out

by Vernon E. Jordan Jr.

The long and storied career of Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. one of the nation’s finest speakers, has carried him from work on the civil rights front lines in the South to the National Urban League to positions of influence at the highest level of business and politics. A friend and confidant to presidents, Vernon Jordan has never forgotten the men and women, from Wiley Branton to Martin Luther King, from Fannie Lou Hamer to Whitney Young to Primus King, whose oratorical skill in service to social justice deeply influenced him. Their examples, and voices, mixed with Vernon’s own make this book both a history and an embodiment of black speech at its finest, full of emotion, controlled force, righteous indignation, love of country, and awe in front of the challenges ahead.

Genres: History, Biography

266 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2008

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sat with Vernon E. Jordan in our fraternity living room in the early sixties: so persuasive and magnificent to me. These are important speeches from 1971-2008 of the history from a prominent civil rights actor.

Besides loving his rhetoric, I learned that Afro-Americans in South Carolin fro the mid-1520s (a century before the Pilgrims founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620); Ronald Reagan visited Jordan in the hospital where he was recovering from an attempt on his life; and, Barack Obama's road from a state senator in Illinois was paved by court decisions striking down white primaries in several states.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to fulfil the goal read a book on public speaking. it's mostly copies of this guys speeches mixed with a little background commentary. for a political book it's not that bad. at first, i was a little put off by his strong references to color, but he does have some good points, and isn't a bad speaker. it's not a book i'm likely to read over and over again. didn't mind reading it once however.