Deborah F. Atwater – författare

African American Women's Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor deals with the rhetoric of African American women from enslavement to current times, examining slave narratives and contemporary print, music, and other media surrounding the lives of African American women. Covering a variety of specific women and their rhetoric within the context of a historical period, the book provides central themes and strategic and social concerns of African American women and their environment. It frames, in some, cases, the rhetoric of contemporary women in politics and other fields of prominence—including Condoleeza Rice and Barbara Lee, among others.Deborah F. Atwater explores how African women today who engage in speech in the public sphere come from a historical line of active women who have been outspoken in politics, education, business, and various social contexts; heretofore, these women have not been studied in a comprehensive manner. Specifically, how do these African American women discuss themselves, and—more importantly—how do they represent who they are in various communities? How do these women persuade their diverse audiences to value what they say and who they are?African American Women's Rhetoric will be an invaluable contribution to upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses in Rhetoric, African American Rhetoric, History, and Women's Studies.

The Rhetoric of Black Mayors explores the rhetorical and practical efforts of Black mayors in building coalitions to win elections and govern cities. Atwater discusses and analyzes the process of creating coalitions by each mayor by dealing with the news coverage of the mayors by both the black and mainstream press. As a unique feature, the text includes interviews with most of the mayors included in The Rhetoric of Black Mayors. These mayors are from cities on the east coast, ranging from the large city of Philadelphia to the small city of Glenarden, Maryland. This text covers successful administrations, as well as those that are challenging and problematic.