The Project Gutenberg EBook of Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence
The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of
Slavery to the Present Time

Author: Various

Editor: Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Release Date: August 4, 2007 [EBook #22240]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MASTERPIECES OF NEGRO ELOQUENCE ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Illustration: Frederick Douglass]

MASTERPIECES OF NEGRO ELOQUENCE

THE BEST SPEECHES DELIVERED BY
THE NEGRO FROM THE DAYS OF
SLAVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME

EDITED BY

ALICE MOORE DUNBAR

Copyright, 1914, by ROBERT JOHN NELSON

Printed in the United States of America

_TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE NEGRO RACE, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED, WITH
THE HOPE THAT IT MAY HELP INSPIRE THEM WITH A BELIEF IN THEIR OWN
POSSIBILITIES_

PREFACE

It seems eminently fitting and proper in this year, the fiftieth
anniversary of the Proclamation of Emancipation that the Negro should
give pause and look around him at the things which he has done, those
which he might have done, and those which he intends to do. We pause,
just at the beginning of another half century, taking stock of past
achievements, present conditions, future possibilities.

In considering the literary work of the Negro, his pre-eminence in the
field of oratory is striking. Since the early nineteenth century until
the present time, he is found giving eloquent voice to the story of his
wrongs and his proscriptions. Crude though the earlier efforts may be,
there is a certain grim eloquence in them that is touching, there must
be, because of the intensity of feeling behind the words.

Therefore, it seems appropriate in putting forth a volume commemorating
the birth of the Negro into manhood, to collect some few of the speeches
he made to help win his manhood, his place in the economy of the nation,
his right to stand with his face to the sun. The present volume does not
aim to be a complete collection of Negro Eloquence; it does not