Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-173) and index.

Richard Allen, 1786 -- Samuel B. Cornish & John Russwurm: from the editorial in the first edition of Freedom's Journal, 1827 -- David Walker: from Walker's appeal in four articles, 1829 -- Dred Scott: Dred Scott's petition to sue for his freedom, 1847 -- Sojourner Truth: an address to the Ohio women's rights convention, 1851 -- Frederick Douglass: from a speech to the Rochester antislavery sewing society, 1852 -- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: "Bury me in a free land" from the book Poems on miscellaneous subjects, 1854 -- Henry Highland Garnet: from a speech delivered in the hall of the United States House of Representatives, 1865 -- Blanche K. Bruce: from a speech to the United States Senate on the Mississippi election, 1876 -- Ida B. Wells Barnett: from A red record, 1895 -- Mary Church Terrell: from an address delivered to the National American women's suffrage association, 1898 -- Booker T. Washington: from a speech delivered at the Cotton state and International exposition, 1895 -- W.E.B. DuBois: from the souls of black folks, 1903 -- James Weldon Johnson & J. Rosamond Johnson: "Lift ev'ry voice and sing", 1900 -- Marcus Garvey: from a speech delivered at Liberty hall, 1922 -- Mary McLeod Bethune: from "Faith that moved a dump heap", 1941 -- Langston Hughes: "The negro speaks of rivers", 1921 -- Zora Neale Hurston: From their eyes were watching God, 1937 -- Thomas A. Dorsey: "Take my hand, Precious Lord", 1938 -- Richard Wright: From Native son, 1940 -- Paul Robeson: from and address at a public meeting sponsored by the Council of African Affairs, 1946 -- George Washington Carver: From The man who talked with flowers, 1939 -- Thurgood Marshall: From the summary of argument, Brown v. Board of Education, 1953 -- Rosa Parks: From Rosa Parks, my story, 1992 -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: from a speech delivered at Lincoln University, 1961 -- Malcolm X: from an address delivered at the Hotel Theresa, 1964 -- Stokeley Carmichael: from a speech delivered at the University of California at Berkley, 1966 -- Alex Haley: from Roots: the saga of an American family, 1976 -- Barbara Jordan: From the keynote address, National Democratic convention, 1976 -- Reverend Jesse Jackson: from an address to the National Democratic convention, 1988 -- Marian Wright Edelman: From a speech delivered at the Congressional black caucus conference, 1987 -- Toni Morrison: from the Nobel lecture in literature, 1993 -- Lauryn Hill: "The miseducation of Lauren Hill", 1998. A collection of speeches and writings by African Americans, with commentary about the time period in which each person lived, information about the speaker/writer, and public response to the words.