Say It Loud!

September 15, 2010
Following Say It Plain (2005), the highly acclaimed anthology of African American political speech of the past century, this collection offers speeches reflecting changes in black identity from 1960 to the present and the continued struggle for equal rights. Each of the 23 speeches is preceded by a biographical sketch of the speaker and the historical context for the speech. The collection begins with Malcolm X in 1964 addressing a Detroit Baptist church, warning of the thinning patience of black Americans longing for racial justice. It includes Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 at a Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention steering the leadership toward economics and Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 2004 speaking on the eve of the release of his PBS project America beyond the Color Line. The collection ends with candidate Barack Obama in 2008 addressing, for the first time in his campaign, the thorny issue of race. An accompanying CD offers a chance to hear excerpts from most of the speeches, which collectively provide a sweeping perspective on evolving issues of black identity in the struggle for equality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)