Richard W. Leeman is professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of several books, including The Teleological Discourse of Barack Obama (Lexington), and the editor/author of several more, including African-American Orators: A BioCritical Sourcebook and The Will of A People: A Critical Anthology of Great African American Speeches.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Liberty, Equality and Salvation: African Americans at the Start of the NationChapter 2: All Manner of ReformsChapter 3: Emancipation, Segregation and MigrationChapter 4: Lifting as We Climb: Advancing the CauseChapter 5: Waves of Reform and Revolution: The Modern Civil Rights MovementChapter 6: “I Am Somebody”: Public Speaking in the Age of IntegrationChapter 7: Barack Obama and the “Post-Racial” SocietyBibliographic Essay

Richard Leeman's To Reach the Nation's Ear: A History of African American Public Speaking is the book we have needed and have been waiting for in the field of public address. Drawing from his years of experience in studying African American rhetoric and public address, Leeman takes the reader from Colonial Times to the present to offer us a must-have introductory text that highlights some of the exemplars within the African American rhetorical tradition.

Richard W. Leeman is professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of several books, including The Teleological Discourse of Barack Obama (Lexington), and the editor/author of several more, including African-American Orators: A BioCritical Sourcebook and The Will of A People: A Critical Anthology of Great African American Speeches.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Liberty, Equality and Salvation: African Americans at the Start of the NationChapter 2: All Manner of ReformsChapter 3: Emancipation, Segregation and MigrationChapter 4: Lifting as We Climb: Advancing the CauseChapter 5: Waves of Reform and Revolution: The Modern Civil Rights MovementChapter 6: “I Am Somebody”: Public Speaking in the Age of IntegrationChapter 7: Barack Obama and the “Post-Racial” SocietyBibliographic Essay

Richard Leeman's To Reach the Nation's Ear: A History of African American Public Speaking is the book we have needed and have been waiting for in the field of public address. Drawing from his years of experience in studying African American rhetoric and public address, Leeman takes the reader from Colonial Times to the present to offer us a must-have introductory text that highlights some of the exemplars within the African American rhetorical tradition.

Richard W. Leeman is professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of several books, including The Teleological Discourse of Barack Obama (Lexington), and the editor/author of several more, including African-American Orators: A BioCritical Sourcebook and The Will of A People: A Critical Anthology of Great African American Speeches.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Liberty, Equality and Salvation: African Americans at the Start of the NationChapter 2: All Manner of ReformsChapter 3: Emancipation, Segregation and MigrationChapter 4: Lifting as We Climb: Advancing the CauseChapter 5: Waves of Reform and Revolution: The Modern Civil Rights MovementChapter 6: “I Am Somebody”: Public Speaking in the Age of IntegrationChapter 7: Barack Obama and the “Post-Racial” SocietyBibliographic Essay

Richard Leeman's To Reach the Nation's Ear: A History of African American Public Speaking is the book we have needed and have been waiting for in the field of public address. Drawing from his years of experience in studying African American rhetoric and public address, Leeman takes the reader from Colonial Times to the present to offer us a must-have introductory text that highlights some of the exemplars within the African American rhetorical tradition.