February 26, 2014

Famous Books and Speeches of People from Black History

To celebrate Black History Month this February, we’ve scoured the LearnOutLoud archives in search of the best free videos, audio books, speeches, and podcasts we can find as a primer on the subject. To that end, we’ve come up with a content-rich selection of historical books, important memoirs, key speeches and other resources that will give you a well-rounded introduction to African-American history. Included in this list, you’ll find material that covers the legacy of slavery in America up to the Civil Rights Movement, with special attention given to important figures such as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X and more. We think after trying these ideas out you’ll have a great jumping off point in your exploration of a vital, evolving story that has indelibly shaped the American experience from the very beginning.

1) African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle

This course introduces the viewer to African-American history, with particular emphasis on the political thought and protest movements of the period after 1930, focusing on selected individuals who have shaped and been shaped by modern African-American struggles for freedom and justice. Clayborne Carson is a professor in the History Department at Stanford University.

2) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

First published in 1845, the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass became Frederick Douglass’s most well known work. It is as the name implies his autobiography. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and underwent horrendous treatment at the hands of his owners. He later escaped to the north and became an outspoken abolitionist. Not only did he have a great life story to tell, his skill in telling it has long been admired. Douglass traveled throughout Europe lecturing about slavery.

After publication, the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass quickly became a best seller and within three years there were over 11,000 copies published in the United States, had been reprinted nine times and had been translated into two languages (Dutch and French). The book was so well written that some argued that an ex-slave could not be as articulate as Frederick Douglass demonstrated himself to be. Of course, Douglass did write the book and it stands today as a monument to the human spirit and what may be achieved with hard work no matter where in society somebody may begin.

3) Twelve Years a Slave

Download the audio book version of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. This book has now been adapted into the major motion picture 12 Years a Slave, and the movie has received widespread critical acclaim. Solomon Northup’s slave narrative covers the 12 years he was kept in bondage in Louisiana and provides a factual first-person account of slavery at that time. The book was a bestseller when it was published, but it fell into obscurity for almost 100 years before it was rediscovered in the 1960s. This book is read by Rob Board at Librivox.

4) Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Listen to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic American novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. One of the bestselling novels of its time, the book vividly depicts African American slavery and it had a profound influence on the abolitionist movement. This unabridged 18-hour audio book is dynamically narrated by John Greenman and available on MP3 download through LibriVox.org.

5) The Souls of Black Folk

Listen to an unabridged recording of W.E.B. Du Bois’ classic work of African-American literature The Souls of Black Folk. Published in 1903, Du Bois begins his collection of essays on race with the statement that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” The essays that followed were instrumental to the intellectual argument for the black freedom struggle in the twentieth century.

6) American RadioWorks presents Say It Plain: A Century of Great African-American Speeches

This hour-long audio documentary from American RadioWorks is an excellent introduction to great African American speakers of the last century. In chronological order it covers speeches all the way back to Booker T. Washington’s address at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition up to Barack Obama’s recent speech at the Democratic National Convention. The hour-long documentary features excerpts of the speeches with interviews and commentary on their significance, and if you liked a particular speech American RadioWorks offers each speech individually as streaming audio so you can listen to it in its entirety. The hour-long audio documentary is free to listen to on streaming audio from the American RadioWorks site. They also have a follow up audio documentary entitled Say it Loud which highlights ideas and debates pulsing through the black freedom struggle from the 1960s to the present.

7) BMA: Black Media Archive Podcast

Listen to hundreds of podcasts from notable African and African-American speakers. The Black Media Archive Podcast has collected a wide range of multi-media including speeches, archival video, movies, music, and more. They feature speeches from Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, James Baldwin, Barbara Jordan, Ossie Davis, Langston Hughes, and dozens of other influential black leaders over the course of the past 100 years.

8) Martin Luther King Speeches and Sermons from the King Institute

Building upon the achievements of Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project, the King Research and Education Institute provides an institutional home for a broad range of activities illuminating the Nobel Peace laureate’s life and the movements he inspired. The Institute’s endowment supports programs that serve as an enduring link between Stanford’s research resources and King’s dream of global peace with social justice. Now Stanford University’s King Research and Education Institute freely provides streaming audio of over 20 of Dr. King’s most famous speeches and sermons.

Here are the speeches you can listen to there:

1954:
28 February 1954 – Rediscovering Lost Values
1955:
5 December 1955 – Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting
1956:
4 November 1956 – “Paul’s Letter to American Christians”
1957:
7 April 1957 – The Birth of a New Nation, Sermon delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
17 May 1957 – “Give Us the Ballot,” Address at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
17 November 1957 – “Loving Your Enemies,” Sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
1963:
16 April 1963 – “Letter From Birmingham Jail”
23 June 1963 – Speech at the Great March on Detroit
28 August 1963 – I Have a Dream, Address at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
18 September 1963 – Eulogy for the Martyred Children
1964:
10 December 1964 – Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
1965:
25 March 1965 – Address at the Conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March
4 July 1965 – “The American Dream”
1966:
5 June 1966 – “Guidelines for a Constructive Church”
1967:
4 April 1967 – Beyond Vietnam
9 April 1967 – “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life”
11 June 1967 – “A Knock at Midnight”
16 August 1967 – “Where Do We Go From Here?,” Delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention
27 August 1967 – “Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool”
1968:
4 February 1968 – “The Drum Major Instinct”
3 March 1968 – “Unfulfilled Dreams”
31 March 1968 – “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”
3 April 1968 – I’ve Been to the Mountaintop