This volume collects Lillian Smith’s speeches and essays, under three headings. In “Addressed to the South,” they are a historical record of segregation and the opposition to segregation. In “Words That Chain Us and Words That Set Us Free,” they discuss the power of language to change political and social situations, the necessity of respect for people’s differences, the groping for meaning that we do, and the political role of the creative person. The speeches and essays in “Of Women, Men, and Autobiography” deal with such topics as the difference in experience of women and men, the power and powerlessness of women, and the complexities of autobiographical truth.
