African-American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook

(Hardback)

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Description

This long-needed sourcebook assesses the unique styles and themes of notable African-American orators from the mid-19th century to the presentof 43 representative public speakers, from W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson to Barbara Jordan and Thurgood Marshall. The critical analyses of the oratory of a broad segment of different types of public speakers demonstrate how they have stressed the historical search for freedom, upheld American ideals while condemning discriminatory practices against African-Americans, and have spoken in behalf of black pride. This biographical dictionary with its evaluative essays, sources for further reading, and speech chronologies is designed for broad interdisciplinary use by students, teachers, activists, and general readers in college, university, institutional, and public libraries.

Reviews

Leeman's badly needed collection treats 43 orators.... For each orator, the book gives background information about the speaker, excerpts from speeches, information sources (where the original speeches may be found), titles of biographies, and a chronology of major speeches (title, where delivered, and date). Leeman provides a good mix of historical and contemporary orators, and of men and women....The contributors consist of distinguished speech and communication faculty. This volume should be included in every African American collection and is recommended for all college libraries.-Choice
"Leeman's badly needed collection treats 43 orators.... For each orator, the book gives background information about the speaker, excerpts from speeches, information sources (where the original speeches may be found), titles of biographies, and a chronology of major speeches (title, where delivered, and date). Leeman provides a good mix of historical and contemporary orators, and of men and women....The contributors consist of distinguished speech and communication faculty. This volume should be included in every African American collection and is recommended for all college libraries."-Choice

Author Bio

RICHARD W. LEEMAN, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, teaches courses in rhetorical theory, political communication, and African-American oratory. He is the author of The Rhetoric of Terrorism (1991) and Do Everything Reform: The Oratory of Frances E. Willard (1992), both published by Greenwood Press.