Great African American Speeches

In this collection, African American leaders change history with the power of the spoken word.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (1968), Unfulfilled Dreams (1968)

US Representative Barbara Jordan: DNC Keynote Address (1976)

Malcolm X: Field Negro vs. House Negro (1963)

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: Be Not Afraid (2001)

Stokely Carmichael: Black Power (1966)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: RNC Keynote Address (2012)

President Barack Obama: Victory Speech, Inauguration Speech

Dr. Benjamin Carson: National Prayer Breakfast (2013)

Nelson Mandela: United Nations Address (1990), Joint Session of Congress (1990)

Reverend Jesse Jackson: DNC Address (1984), DNC Address (1988)

Representative Shirley Chisholm: Greenfield College (1983)

Secretary of State Colin Powell: TEDxMidAtlantic Conference (2012)

Honorable Janice Rogers Brown: Return of the Forgotten Man (2011)

*These are actual historic recordings, the sound quality represents the available audio technology of the era, and varies by recording.