How to Find Speeches on Black History

Martin Luther King's speeches on black history and civil rights are widely available.

Black history is a wide-ranging topic -- do not make the mistake of restricting your conception of black history to one time period or theme, such as civil rights or slavery. Just as the topic is broad, so are the people who have delivered speeches on black history. There are several nonprofits and research institutions dedicated to cataloging famous speeches on black history. Start your search with these resources to get the most accurate transcriptions of speeches on black history.

Instructions

1. Visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute website for speeches delivered by Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Click on "King resources" and select "speeches." Click on "sermons" to view oratories that, while not meant as pure speeches, include themes of black history.

2. Log on to Fremarjo Enterprises, Inc.'s website for speeches delivered by freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "speeches" for three addresses on black history, specifically as it relates to slavery.

3. Visit the web page run by the estate of slain activist Malcolm X, and click on "quotes," and on "more quotes" under the articles and speeches section. This provides snippets of Malcolm X's speeches on black history. Full versions of selected speeches are available in "Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements," by Malcolm X and George Breitman.

4. Go to the web page "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary," a site inspired by a biography on Marshall, an ardent civil rights supporter and the first African-American justice to sit on the Supreme Court. Click on "speeches/articles" for several of Marshall's addresses that include black history themes.

5. Visit "Black Past: Remembers and Reclaimed," a site of black history resources compiled by the University of Washington, Seattle. The site has a wide range of black history speeches and does not focus on a particular person. Click on "African American history." Under "related resources," select "major speeches - African American" for a list from the late 1700s to the present of notable speeches by African-Americans that invoke black history themes. On the resources page, select "major speeches - race, freedom and democracy," for speeches by black leaders on these specific themes.

6. Read Kai Wright's "The African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs and Stories." The book focuses on a variety of black leaders, including politicians, authors, musicians, activists and athletes, presenting diverse viewpoints of black history.

7. Read "Selected Speeches and Writings of Nelson Mandela: The End of Apartheid in South Africa," for a non-American viewpoint of black history and issues. Former South African President Nelson Mandela helped end apartheid in his country.

8. Listen to "We Rise: Speeches by Inspirational Black Women," an audio compilation of speeches, and "Great Black Speeches," an audio recreation of speeches from Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Henry Highland Garnet on black history.

9. Visit museums dedicated to black history, such as Cincinnati, Ohio's National Underground Freedom Center, the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Richmond, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Pa., the Idaho Black History Museum in Boise, or the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. These museums and similar institutions feature exhibits and archives of speeches on black history.

References

• The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute: King Resources
• Fremarjo Enterprises: Three Speeches From the LIfe and Writings of Frederick Douglass; 1997
• Thurgood Marshall - American Revolutionary: Speeches and Articles
• Black Past: African American History - Major Speeches; 2007-2011
• Black Past: Related Speeches on Race, Freedom and Democracy; 2007-2011

Resources

• "Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements;" Malcolm X and George Breitman; 1990
• "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary;" Juan Williams; 2000
• "The African American Experience: Black History and Culture...;" Kai Wright; 2009
• "We Rise: Speeches by Inspirational Black Women;" Various contributors; 2010
• "Selected Speeches and Writings of Nelson Mandela...;" Nelson Mandela; 2010