Black History Month: Monumental Speeches

We're starting off Black History Month one day early, by highlighting a series of powerful speeches in African American history.  Ranging from the historic words of Sojourner Truth up to the present day with President Barack Obama, this selection features speakers who through their bravery, charisma and conviction helped shape the course of American history and civil rights.

Speeches are available in audio, video and text forms.

Sojourner Truth
Speech: Ain't I a Woman? (1851)

Jackie Robinson "This I Believe..."

Frederick Douglass 
Speech: What to the Slave is the 4th of July? (1852)

W.E.B. Dubois
Speech: Niagra Movement Speech (1905)

Jackie Robinson
Speech: This I Believe... (no date)

Martin Luther King Jr.
Speech: I Have a Dream (1963)

Malcolm X
Speech: Speaking Out on Race (1964)

Shirley Chisolm
Speech: For the Equal Rights Amendment (1970)

Barack Obama
Speech: Inaugural Address (2008)