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the speech by Frederick Douglass is spell binding. Great Speeches by African Americans: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, and Others (Thrift Edition)This book really makes one understand the horrid feelings still carried by African Americans after Slavery was officially abolished.
Every one of us will have to work more, read more, train more, think more. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing and a by word to a mocking earth. We will have to slough off bad habits - like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Be warned.
More than a book of speeches, this solemn and profound book is a window into the history (or should I say plight). It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement; the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet your cling to it as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver - no, not I. As a subject of King George, you knew that your freedom to worship and speak and build your own life would be ultimately limited by the throne.And then America happened.A place where destiny was not a destination, but a journey to be shared and shaped and remade by people who had the gall, the temerity to believe that, against all odds, they could form "a more perfect union" on this new frontier.And as people around the world began to hear the tale of the lowly colonists who overthrew an Empire for the sake of an idea, they came. As a peasant in 11th century China, you knew that no matter how hard you worked, the local warlord might take everything you had - and that famine might come knocking on your door any day. Oh, be warned. of African Americans. Of many sagacious passages, here are a few highlights:Fellow citizens, I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies.
And yet, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, people kept dreaming, and building, and working, and marching, and petitioning their government, until they made America a land where the question of our place in history is not answered for us, but by us.Barack ObamaJune 4, 2005None of this will come easy. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.Malcolm XApril 3, 1964What will be [your] place in history.In other eras, across distant lands, this is a question that could be answered with relative ease and certainty. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. Across the oceans and the ages, they settled in Boston and Charleston, Chicago and St. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism.
This collective dream moved forward imperfectly - it was scarred by our treatment of native peoples, betrayed by slavery, clouded by the subjugation of women, shaken by war and depression. Our kids will have to turn off the TV sets and put away the video games and start hitting the books.Barack ObamaJune 4, 2005 Louis, Kalamazoo and Galesburg, to try and build their own American Dream. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. As a servant of Rome, you knew you would spend your life forced to build somebody else's Empire.
One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your union. A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation's bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear way, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever.Frederick DouglasJuly 5, 1852No, I'm not an American.
Thanks. Great transaction, great product, great shipping. I am so excited about our new President, Barack Obama. I found this book while just shopping on Amazon.com.
Speeches are amazing. No problems at all. Book in perfect condition. Arrived on time.
We have recommended this book to a lot of his friends and collegues. The book was in great condition and sent in a timely manner. Thanks Amazon. My son has enjoyed this book. He is reading this in his spare time while studying for his master degree in religion.
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