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December 10, 2023

100 Famous Presidential Speeches on MP3 Audio Download

We now feature over 100 famous presidential speeches that you can download directly through LearnOutLoud.com on MP3 audio. We’ve been linking to various sites for these speeches for many years, but since they’re in the public domain, we figured we’d offer them directly on MP3 download. We also link to the video of the speech if it is available on YouTube or C-SPAN.

Below are 100 recordings of notable speeches from American presidents going back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We’ll list them in historical order with the date they were delivered. We’ll start with FDR’s First Inaugural Address, which was delivered way back on March 4, 1933. For more recent presidents, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, we feature all of their State of the Union addresses. Relive history with this collection of historic speeches from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Stream or download them all on MP3 audio.

Enjoy these famous presidential speeches on MP3!

January 20, 2018

Greatest Speeches on Free Audio & Video

We’ve recently gone through and added videos to the 150 great speeches we feature from American Rhetoric. AmericanRhetoric.com is the largest online speech bank which features over 5000 full text, audio, and video versions of public speeches, sermons, lectures, debates, and interviews. From their speech bank we’ve selected 150 of the most well known speeches they offer on streaming audio and MP3 audio download. We’ve now added to these pages the videos of the speeches when they are available as many have been uploaded to YouTube or are available on C-SPAN. You can view them all here:

Browse 150 of the Best Speeches of All Time from American Rhetoric

To see our full collection of free speeches, check out our Free Speeches Audio & Video category:

Browse Over 250 Free Speeches on Audio & Video on LearnOutLoud.com

We’ve also decided to permanently make our Great Speeches in History audio book free. You can download this collection of great speeches from throughout history exclusively on LearnOutLoud:

Download Our Free Great Speeches in History Audio Book Exclusively on LearnOutLoud.com

We also feature many speeches and talks in our over 200 top video programs we selected from C-SPAN:

The Best of the C-SPAN Video Library

For some of the most popular speeches on our site, here are the top 10 most popular speeches from American Rhetoric:

1. I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. I’ve Been to the Mountaintop by Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

4. 1993 ESPY Award Address by Jim Valvano

5. A Time for Choosing (aka “The Speech”) by Ronald Reagan

6. Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Robert F. Kennedy

7. John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address

8. Beyond Vietnam by Martin Luther King, Jr.

9. The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X

10. D-Day Pre-invasion Address to Soldiers by Dwight D. Eisenhower

In addition to these great speeches, you can listen to over 25 one-hour audio books that highlight some of the greatest speeches of the past century. For years now we’ve been selling the audio books of Speechworks on audio download. Their audio books feature highlights from great speeches of past presidents and notable figures like Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., Joe DiMaggio, and Muhammad Ali. Now over 25 of their audio books are available to stream for free from Spotify. We still sell them on audio download but have embedded the albums on Spotify on our these pages. Please Note: In order to listen to these audio books you’ll need a free Spotify account. You can listen for free with occasional ads and they also have Spotify software for easier listening on your computer. If you want to listen ad-free and on a smart phone and you love music as well, we can’t recommend Spotify Premium highly enough.

Apollo 13: The Real Mission

Bobby: The Speeches of Robert F. Kennedy

Dwight D. Eisenhower: IKE

Edward M. Kennedy: Lion of the Senate

FDR: Mr. President

FDR: Nothing to Fear

General Douglas A. MacArthur: Soldier

The Greatest Speeches of All Time: Volume I

The Greatest Speeches of All Time: Volume II

The Greatest Speeches of All Time: Volume III

Harry S. Truman: Give ’em Hell, Harry

JFK: The Kennedy Tapes

JFK: The Kennedy Tapes Vol. II

Joe DiMaggio: The Yankee Clipper

John F. Kennedy: The JFK Wit

Lyndon Baines Johnson: LBJ

Martin Luther King Jr.: We Shall Overcome

Michael Jordan: An Audio Tribute

MLK: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Tapes

Muhammad Ali: An Audio Tribute – Beyond the Myth

Richard M. Nixon: The Nixon Tapes

Robert F. Kennedy: In His Own Words

Ronald Reagan: The Great Speeches Vol. 1

Ronald Reagan: The Great Speeches Vol. 2

Sir Winston Churchill: “The War Years”

Sir Winston Churchill: His Finest Hour

William Jefferson Clinton: Great Speeches

And if you’d like to listen to full speeches from our past presidents, we also are linking to large Spotify playlists on the below pages, along with linking to the Miller Center of Public Affairs which features the largest collections of presidential speeches on audio & video. Here they are in presidential order:

Franklin D. Roosevelt Speeches

Harry S. Truman Speeches

Dwight D. Eisenhower Speeches

John F. Kennedy Speeches

Lyndon B. Johnson Speeches

Richard Nixon Speeches

Gerald Ford Speeches

Jimmy Carter Speeches

Ronald Reagan Speeches

George H.W. Bush Speeches

William J. Clinton Speeches

George W. Bush Speeches

Barack Obama Speeches

Lots of speeches on audio & video to choose from. Be inspired by some of the most famous speeches of all time on LearnOutLoud!

April 30, 2017

35 Speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. on Audio & Video

In recent years many of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches have been made available for free on audio & video from The King Institute at Stanford and The King Center in Atlanta. In this post we’ll feature 35 prominent speeches and sermons that Dr. King delivered in his lifetime that are available to listen to for free on audio & video.

You can browse all of the speeches and sermons of Dr. King that we feature on his author page, along with some audio books of his speeches and some interviews he did:

35 Free Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Audio & Video

We’ll start off by featuring some of Dr. King’s most famous speeches that we’ve featured in the past:

I Have a Dream Speech (August 28th, 1963)

Delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King’s passionate call for justice and equality was the battle cry for the Civil Rights Movement in America. The 17-minute speech called for an end to racism in the United States during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was a defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement.

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech (April 3rd, 1968)

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The night before he was assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. In this stirring speech Dr. King looks back on his life and is thankful for all the positive changes in civil rights that occurred in his lifetime, and he is grateful to have lived in the second half of the 20th century when masses of people all over the world were standing up for freedom and human rights.

Letter from Birmingham Jail: Dramatic Reading (April 16, 1963)

Watch a free dramatized version of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Written 40 years ago on April 16, 1963, Dr. King wrote this while in jail in response to a statement by 8 white clergymen who argued that the battle against segregation should be fought in the courts, and not in the streets. In his letter, Dr. King argues for nonviolent direct action in response to unjust laws. The letter contains many great quotes including “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and “Justice too long delayed is justice denied”. This special 1-hour video is a recording from the University of Texas at Austin filmed in an old Georgetown, Texas, jail sitting in for Birmingham in 1963, with actor Corey Jones playing Dr. King.

Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony (December 10, 1964)

Listen to this brief yet powerful speech that Dr. King delivered upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. In the speech Dr. King talks of the ongoing “creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice” in the United States which by that time had led to the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. And King speaks of his hope that “mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed and join together in brotherhood.”

A Knock at Midnight Sermon (June 11, 1967)

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A Knock at Midnight” sermon was delivered on June 11, 1967. It is one of his most famous sermons where he relates the parable Jesus told of a man who knocks at midnight for three loaves of bread. Dr. King extends the meaning of “midnight” to regard his time in 1967 as midnight in the social order, the psychological order, and the spiritual order. He encourages the church to offer “bread” to those in need both in a real sense and in a spiritual sense. It’s a powerful sermon delivered 50 years ago, but still very relevant today. It is available on streaming audio from the King Institute and on streaming video from YouTube.

The Drum Major Instinct Sermon (February 4, 1968)

Listen to this inspiring sermon from Martin Luther King, Jr. In this speech, delivered in the year he was assassinated, Dr. King looks back on his life and hopes he will be remembered as a “Drum Major for Justice”. King sees the importance in the “drum major instinct” that drives us to lead and be recognized, but points out through Christ’s teachings that the greatest leaders are those who serve others and put justice before their own gain.

Now we’ll give you a list all of the speeches including many new ones we’ve recently added to our LearnOutLoud.com Free Audio & Video Directory. The King Institute offers text and streaming audio of many of Dr. King’s most famous speeches. They are available through a Flash player on their site so if you’re on an iPhone or iPad the flash player won’t show up. But no need to worry we’ve also embedded video of all of these speeches from YouTube. Also The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change has uploaded many of Dr. King’s speeches to its YouTube channel in the past year and we’ve now added many of these to our site.

Here they all are in order of when they were delivered:

Rediscovering Lost Values (February 28, 1954)

Paul’s Letter to American Christians (November 11, 1956)

Birth of a New Nation (April 7, 1957)

Give Us the Ballot (May 17, 1957)

Loving Your Enemies (November 17, 1957)

Letter from Birmingham Jail: Dramatic Reading (April 16, 1963)

Speech at the Great March on Detroit (June 23, 1963)

I Have a Dream (August 28th, 1963)

Eulogy for the Martyred Children (September 18, 1963)

Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony (December 10, 1964)

The Quest for Peace and Justice: 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (December 11, 1964)

How Long, Not Long: Address at the Conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March (March 25, 1965)

Creative Maladjustment (April 27, 1965)

The American Dream (July 4, 1965)

Free at Last (February 10, 1966)

Guidelines for a Constructive Church (June 5, 1966)

The Casualties of the War in Vietnam (February 25, 1967)

Beyond Vietnam (April 4, 1967)

The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life (April 9, 1967)

A Knock at Midnight (June 11, 1967)

Where Do We Go from Here? (August 16, 1967)

Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool (August 27, 1967)

The Three Evils of Society (August 31, 1967)

What is Your Life’s Blueprint? (October 26, 1967)

The Drum Major Instinct (February 4, 1968)

Unfulfilled Dreams (March 3, 1968)

The Other America (March 14, 1968)

Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution (March 31, 1968)

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (April 3, 1968)

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center is also featuring the 1967 CBC Massey Lectures that Dr. King delivered on their YouTube channel:

Conscience for Change: The 1967 CBC Massey Lectures

1. Impasse in Race Relations

2. Conscience and the Vietnam War

3. Youth and Social Action

4. Nonviolence and Social Change

5. A Christmas Sermon on Peace (December 24, 1967)

We do feature a number of other audio & video titles from Dr. King on his author page. Check them all out here:

Over 50 Martin Luther King, Jr. Audio & Video Titles

And for our comprehensive collection of audio & video resources about Dr. King check out:

MLK Out Loud Audio & Video Resources

June 6, 2014

Public Speaking Tips on Free Audio & Video

Need to boost your confidence before that next speaking engagement? Have no fear, LearnOutLoud has collected the best public speaking tips on free audio & video. For years, we’ve been showcasing the best tips available to help you become a better speaker, and here you’ll find public speaking fundamentals, a breakdown of useful phrases to get you started, and a dissection of a masterpiece speech by Martin Luther King. Learn strategies that will help you make that next speaking gig go smoothly, clearly, and confidently by clicking any of the links below:

1. The Art of Public Speaking

Before Dale Carnegie penned How to Win Friends and Influence People, he co-author The Art of Public Speaking with Joseph B. Esenwein in 1915. This book has finally been recorded on audio by a group of volunteer narrators at Librivox. The unabridged audio book runs 19 hours and contains 31 chapters for how to improve your public speaking. The last 15 sections of this audio book are real speeches by famous men to function as a study aid. Download this free self help classic available on Librivox.

2. Carmine Gallo: Three Secrets All Inspiring Messages Share

Carmine Gallo is the author of Talk Like TED and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. In this talk Gallo brings his message that if you want to inspire people with your message, then it has to be understandable, memorable, and emotional. He breaks down each of these three secrets. Gallo also reminds us that you’ve gotta have passion for your vision and what you are inspiring people to do. He uses examples from Steve Jobs, Howard Schultz, and other business leaders about how to passionately communicate your message.

3. The Columbian Orator

Master public speaking with the classic work on oratory: The Columbian Orator edited by Caleb Bingham and published in 1797. This book contains many rules of oratory as well as dozens of great speeches throughout history. Widely used in American schoolrooms in the 19th century, this book was highly influential on many famous American speakers including abolitionist Frederick Douglass and politician Horace Greeley. The works of oratory included in this volume can be downloaded individually and include:

* Oration on Eloquence
* Speech in Congress, 1789 (Washington)
* Speech of a Roman General (P.Emilius)
* Exhortation on Temperance in Pleasure (Blair)
* Judah’s Plea for Benjamin before Joseph (Philo)
* Plea on behalf of Thomas Muir (Muir)
* On the Starry Heavens (Hervey)
* Paper, a poem (Franklin)
* Speech before the Roman Senate (Cato)
* Dialogue between Duellist, Savage, and Mercury
* Speech of an Indian Chief
* On the Creation of the World (Blair)
* Lines Spoken by a Little Boy (Everett)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1766 (Pitt)
* Scene from the Farce of Lethe (Garrick)
* Eulogy of Dr. Franklin (Fauchet)
* Epilogue to Addison’s Cato
* Self-Conceit, an Address by a small boy
* Dialogue between Howard and Lester
* Christ’s Crucifixion (Cumberland)
* The Wonders of Nature (Hervey)
* Dialogue on Physiognomy
* Oration at the Festival of Gratitude (Carnot)
* Address to the President of the United States (Adet)
* President’s Answer (Washington)
* The Oppressive Landlord, a Dialogue
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1770 (Mansfield)
* On the Day of Judgment (Davies)
* Christ triumphant over the apostate Angels (Milton)
* Slaves in Barbary, a Drama in two Acts (Everett)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1770 (Pitt)
* Plea Before a Roman Court (Socrates)
* Dialogue on Cowardice and Knavery
* Speech in the British Parliament (Sheridan)
* Extract from an Oration against Catiline (Cicero)
* Description of the first American Congress (Barlow)
* Speech of a French General (Buonaparte)
* Reflections over the Grave of a Young Man (Hervey)
* Scene from the Drama of ‘Moses in the Bulrushes’
* Speech of a Roman General (G. Cassius)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1784 (Erskine)
* Address to the People of the United States (Washington)
* Dialogue on the Choice of Business for Life
* Speech of a French General (Buonaparte)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1777 (Pitt)
* Dialogue between School-master and School Committee
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1770 (Pitt)
* On the general Judgement Day (Dwight)
* On the Works of Creation and Providence (Hervey)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1778 (Fox)
* The Conjurer, a Dialogue (Everett)
* Speech in the British Parliament, 1775 (Pitt)
* Speech of the Caledonian General (Galgachus)
* Modern Education, a Dialogue
* On the Existence of God, a Sermon (Maxcy)
* The Dignity of Human Nature (Burges)

Download this classic work of on public speaking as an MP3 download through ejunto.com.

4. Fundamentals of Public Speaking

Watch this course covering the Fundamentals of Public Speaking taught by professor Deborah Bridges at the University of Houston. This course contains 7 lectures and over 4 hours of instruction which cover beginning theory and practice of informative and persuasive communication. Professor Bridges sticks close to the textbook in this course covering essential areas of public speaking and teaching how you can improve your skills in this area. The course is available on streaming video through YouTube.

5. Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases

One of the most popular Librivox audio books on our site is Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases by Grenville Kleiser. This book’s subtitle is A Practical Handbook of Pertinent Expressions, Striking Similes, Literary, Commercial, Conversational, and Oratorical Terms, for the Embellishment of Speech and Literature, and The Improvement of the Vocabulary of Those Persons Who Read, Write, and Speak English. The book introduces the importance of the useful phrase and how best to use this book in building your vocabulary. It then dives into 15,000 useful phrases in alphabetical order. This 15-hour unabridged audio book is read by a group of volunteer narrators at Librivox, and is available on MP3 audio download. Expand and empower your use of the English language with this classic vocabulary-building text!

6. Art of Public Speaking: Share a Vision – Martin Luther King’s Dream

The Great Courses is offering this free video lecture from their course The Art of Public Speaking: Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History. Professor John R. Hale uses Dr. King’s speech as an example of a great inspirational speech. He discusses the beginning of the speech and why it is not nearly as remembered as the final “I Have a Dream” part of the speech. He talks about how Dr. King invoked Abraham Lincoln and used Biblical phrasing in much the way Lincoln did in his day. And he mentions King’s ongoing optimism throughout the speech which helped to inspire the crowd. Professor Hale emphasizes points that you can use from the “I Have a Dream” speech to optimize your own public speaking ability.

7. The Public Speaker’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills Podcast

Listen to over 100 free podcasts on The Public Speaker’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills Podcast. Hosted by Lisa B. Marshall, these 10-minute podcasts nail home topics such as how to introduce yourself and remember names, how to use body language, how to improve conversations, and how to calm your nerves before that big public speech. And she’s an excellent speaker!

May 20, 2014

I Have a Dream Speech Analysis

It’s the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. The “I Have a Dream” speech was our very first Free Resource of the Day back on March 1st, 2006, and we’re happy to feature it again on this 50th anniversary. Today we are featuring it on our podcast to be streamed on audio or downloaded:

Great Speeches in History Podcast

Welcome to our Resource of the Day e-mail! One of our favorite free titles in our free directory is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s classic “I Have a Dream” speech. Delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King’s passionate call for justice and equality was the battle cry for the civil rights movement in America.

It is the first and latest podcast listed on our “Great Speeches in History Podcast”. If you click “Listen to Podcast” you will hear it, or if you scroll down the page (past the reviews) you’ll see it and you can click “Download File – 7.7 MB” to download it. It’s not listed yet on iTunes but if you “Subscribe Free” to the podcast then the “I Have a Dream” speech will download in iTunes. Please check out the other great speeches we feature on the podcast as well.

You can also get this great speech from the ultimate site for getting great American speeches on audio, AmericanRhetoric.com. Also on this page we link to a video of the speech on YouTube:

I Have a Dream Speech on Audio & Video

Also we have a few bonus free resources that feature analysis of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech:

Why MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Has Such Historic Impact

Learn more about the historical significance of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” and why it is considered a great speech with this free recent talk from the Aspen Institute given by philanthropist David Rubenstein. Rubenstein takes a look at some of the most famous speeches in history and analyzes why they are considered great from the historic time they were delivered to the rhetorical devices that were used in the speeches. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” fits most of the criteria, except that King improvised from his originally written text to deliver the final stirring “I Have a Dream” oration. Rubenstein puts the speech in historical context and points out that the speech really didn’t come to prominence until after Martin Luther King’s death in 1968.

Art of Public Speaking: Share a Vision – Martin Luther King’s Dream

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

January 22, 2013

Obama’s Second Inaugural Address & Other Presidential Inaugural Addresses

Barack Obama: Second Inaugural Address

Yesterday President Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States and delivered his second inaugural address. He spoke of many of the ongoing issues he has faced during his presidency including ending a decade of war, and the ongoing economic recovery. He made many references to American history, and our collective effort to carry out the ideals of our founding fathers. This speech is available on streaming video from YouTube and on MP3 audio download from American Rhetoric.

Barack Obama: Second Inaugural Address

Go back and hear Obama’s First Inaugural Address delivered four years ago:

Barack Obama: First Inaugural Address

And you might also want to go way back in time to 1995 when a younger, more relaxed Barack Obama (who was not yet a Illinois State Senator) talked about his first book Dreams from My Father:

Barack Obama Talks About Dreams from My Father

And here are some more Presidential Inaugural Addresses:

Dwight D. Eisenhower: First Inaugural Address

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: First Inaugural Address

George W. Bush: Second Inaugural Address

Harry S. Truman: Inaugural Address

John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address

Lyndon Baines Johnson: Inaugural Address

Richard M. Nixon: First Inaugural Address

Ronald Reagan: First Inaugural Address

January 21, 2013

Martin Luther King, Jr. Speeches on Audio

Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States, and we have a great many audio & video resources to help you learn about Dr. King and to hear his voice from his many recorded speeches. Our big resource page is our MLK Out Loud page which you can access here:

MLK Out Loud Resource Page

Also we have added our Martin Luther King, Jr. audio & video author page which features all of the audio & video titles we have that are directly by Martin Luther King including audio of his speeches and writings:

Martin Luther King, Jr. Audio & Video Resources Page

The best free resource for listening to Dr. King’s speeches comes from Stanford University’s King Research and Education Institute, which freely provides streaming audio of over 20 of Dr. King’s most famous speeches and sermons:

Martin Luther King Speeches and Sermons from the King Institute

Here are the speeches you can listen to there:

And of those speeches, here are some speeches by Martin Luther King that we’ve featured in the past (for many of these below we link to other sources where you can listen to and even download the audio of the speech):

Eulogy for the Martyred Children (Available from the King Institute)

Listen to this eulogy from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after the killing of four children during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on Sunday, September 15, 1963 killed four girls, and marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King’s words are particularly poignant today in light of the recent violent tragedies in the United States.

I Have a Dream Speech

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech

“The Drum Major Instinct” Sermon

Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

Martin Luther King: Live Speech on Racial Discrimination

Listen to this rare recording of a 1 hour speech that Dr. King gave on March 24, 1963, the same year of his “I Have a Dream” Speech which he delivered on August 28, 1963. This speech takes a more comprehensive look at the history of African Americans and their journey from slavery to segregation to the civil rights movement. Delivered in the midst of this movement, Dr. King calls for urgency in fighting racial injustice and for nonviolent action in dealing with the moral issues of racism. He surveys the many aspects of the civil rights movement at the time and provides his wisdom on all these aspects. Listen to this excellent speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. available from the Forum Network on streaming audio.

Plenty of great resources to help you celebrate the holiday!

December 19, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speeches on Video

The Nobel Prize Awards were given out earlier this month, including the Nobel Peace Prize which instead of going to an individual went to the entire European Union “for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”.

Nobelprize.org now offers video lectures from the past 10 years by the recipients of all of their prizes along with some videos from the 20th century. We’ll start off pointing out some of the lectures of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. You can check them all out right here:

Nobel Peace Prize Lectures

Here are some of the highlights:

2009: Nobel Lecture by Barack H. Obama which he received “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”.

2007: Nobel Lecture by Al Gore which he received along with the non-profit he founded, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.

2006: Nobel Lecture by microfinance economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below”.

2005: Nobel Lecture by Mohamed ElBaradei, the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way”.

1993: Nobel Lecture by Nelson Mandela (who won along with Frederik Willem de Klerk) “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa”.

1989: Nobel Lecture by the 14th Dalai Lama for his struggle for the liberation of Tibet that has consistently opposed the use of violence.

1979: Nobel Lecture by Mother Teresa “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.”

1964: Nobel Lecture by Martin Luther King, Jr. for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the United States.

Watch some of these historic speeches on the topic of peace. Most of them run about 20 minutes long:

Nobel Peace Prize Lectures

Beyond the Nobel Peace Prize Lectures you can watch video lectures on Nobelprize.org of Nobel Prize recipients in Literature, Economics, Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine. Most of these go back about 10 years.

The Nobel Prize in Literature Lectures – Lectures by Doris Lessing, Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, V.S. Naipaul, and more.

The Nobel Prize in Economics Lectures – Lectures by Paul Krugman, Daniel Kahneman, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and more.

The Nobel Prize in Physics Lectures

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry Lectures

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Lectures

Enjoy these lectures from Nobelprize.org!

November 28, 2012

Rest in Peace Zig Ziglar

The great motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar has passed away at the age of 86. He was a bestselling author with books on motivation & goals, leadership, and sales & marketing. He gave talks and wrote books all the way up to the end of his life. His thoughts on retirement were: “Retire? I’m not going to ease up, let up, shut up, or give up until I’m taken up. In fact I’m just getting warmed up!” He recorded many of his inspiring talks and books on audio and we feature a large collection of those on LearnOutLoud.com:

www.learnoutloud.com/zigziglar

Today we’ll feature a interview that he did on C-SPAN back in 2002 in which he discusses his autobiography:

Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar

In this episode from C-SPAN’s Booknotes program, Zig Ziglar discusses his book Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar. Ziglar starts the interview by talking about his Christian faith and his thoughts on political and business leaders in America. In the second half of the talk he provides a glimpse into his life as a public speaker and many of the ideas he communicates in his motivational speeches including one of his primary mottos: “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” He discusses many of the entrepreneurial adventures he took throughout his life and some of the lessons he learned. Learn about the life of one of the greatest motivational speakers ever!

Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar

And you might also want to check out his free podcast:

Inspiring Words of Encouragement Podcast

Zig Ziglar inspired listeners to achieve their goals for over 40 years as an author and public speaker. This podcast contains excerpts from Ziglar’s recordings with advice and anecdotes on many topics. He began podcasting in 2006 and they kept all of his podcasts up on the feed. Listen to dozens of Zig Ziglar’s motivational podcasts today.

Inspiring Words of Encouragement Podcast

We’ll miss you Zig!

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