Deconstructing Powerful Speeches

Elie Wiesel lost most of his family to the Nazi death camps of World War II. As a Holocaust survivor, he dedicated his life to ending injustice, suffering, and indifference. In this 1999 speech given at the White House, Wiesel makes the case for gratitude, passion, and "making a difference" in the world. His speech links being indifferent, or being a bystander to hate, to destroying humanity. Indifference harms all, because "in denying (people) their humanity we betray our own."

Brief and inspiring, the Gettysburg Address is one of the best-known and most revered speeches in American history. Given on the battlefield at Gettysburg by US President Abraham Lincoln, the speech reaffirms the cause of liberty at a crucial turning point in the Civil War. Readers are introduced to the social and political circumstances of the time, the significance of the bloody battle at Gettysburg, and Lincoln's masterful skill at writing memorable speeches.

A Shawnee warrior and chief, Tecumseh was widely admired as a skilled orator who wanted to unite Indigenous groups in the United States and Canada to prevent the loss of their territory and way of life. This thought-provoking book features his memorable speech in 1810 at Vincennes, to Indiana Governor Harrison to revoke a treaty that took Indigenous lands, and to Indigenous peoples to resist the takeover of their territories. Readers are introduced to the social and political circumstances of the time and an anlysis of text highlights Tecumseh's skill in persuasive writing.

As a famous actor and person of privilege, Emma Watson's 2014 speech as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador was a call for equality and justice. In her speech, she implores men and boys to join the fight for gender equality - for their own sake and that of the other half of the world's population. Watson shares her own experience discovering feminism at an early age and wanting other young women and men to not shrink from the word or the work required to make a more inclusive world.

James Baldwin was an author, social critic, and activist known for his deep understanding of race and class in the United States. This book introduces readers to his speech from a 1965 debate at Cambridge University in which he argues for racial equality in the civil rights era. The social and political circumstances of the era are discussed as well as Baldwin's persuasive argument that, despite contributing to the making of the United States, African Americans are not allowed to fully participate in the American Dream.

Journalist, speaker, and early civil rights leader Ida B. Wells was one of the most outspoken and famous women in the United States. Her powerful speeches on the injustices of lynching in America meant she was subjected to threats on her own life. Her 1909 speech to the newly formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) addresses the social and political circumstances that led to lynching. Her fact-based analysis dispels contrary arguments in clear tones and sets out why this race-based crime was a stain on the nation.

In an era when women worldwide had few rights and could not vote, Susan B. Anthony risked her freedom and reputation by advocating for women's suffrage in the United States. This engaging title analyzes her 1873 speech On Women's Right to Vote, and its simple, but powerful, assertion that women are "persons." Additional material encourages readers to compare this speech to works by Sojourner Truth, as well as more modern women's rights advocates.

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." The prophetic words of abolitionist, writer, and social reformer Frederick Douglass live on in his speeches and books of autobiography. This speech, delivered on July 5, 1852 was an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass grew up enslaved and deprived of rights and liberty and argued that the American values of freedom and liberty for some, but not all, was an injustice to all humans.