A review by erine
Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing by Tonya Bolden, Cokie Roberts
4.0
A really lovely example of how history can inform our present. Each of these speeches - both the known and the unknown to me - very strongly resonated with the current moment. They are inspiring reminders that even when we haven't lived up to our ideals as a country, there is always room to continue struggling and striving for a better country, a better world. The introductions from Tonya Bolden offer context and historical notes for each speech. The illustrations from Eric Velasquez bring the speakers to life.
Brief highlights
Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death:
"These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?"
George Washington, Farewell Address:
"The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize."
Red Jacket, We Never Quarrel About Religion:
"Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you; we only want to enjoy our own."
Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?:
"I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor."
Sojourner Truth, I Am a Woman's Rights:
"But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, and he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard."
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address:
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic:
"There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Only Thing We Have to Fear...
"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today."
Lou Gehrig, Farewell to Baseball:
"So, I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for."
Langston Hughes, On the Blacklist all our Lives:
"Do you know that there are libraries in our country that will not stock a book by a Negro writer, not even as a gift?... Censorship for us begins at the color line."
JFK, We Choose to Go to the Moon:
"We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people."
MLK Jr., I Have a Dream:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
Fannie Lou Hamer, I Question America:
"Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?"
Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of CA:
"You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."
Hilary Rodham Clinton, Women's Rights are Human Rights:
"What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If wemen are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance work work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well."
Brief highlights
Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death:
"These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?"
George Washington, Farewell Address:
"The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize."
Red Jacket, We Never Quarrel About Religion:
"Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you; we only want to enjoy our own."
Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?:
"I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor."
Sojourner Truth, I Am a Woman's Rights:
"But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, and he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard."
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address:
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic:
"There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Only Thing We Have to Fear...
"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today."
Lou Gehrig, Farewell to Baseball:
"So, I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for."
Langston Hughes, On the Blacklist all our Lives:
"Do you know that there are libraries in our country that will not stock a book by a Negro writer, not even as a gift?... Censorship for us begins at the color line."
JFK, We Choose to Go to the Moon:
"We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people."
MLK Jr., I Have a Dream:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
Fannie Lou Hamer, I Question America:
"Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?"
Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of CA:
"You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."
Hilary Rodham Clinton, Women's Rights are Human Rights:
"What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If wemen are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance work work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well."