Survey of Speeches by Black Americans and Important Speeches of 1974-1997 Summary and Analysis

In "An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America," escaped slave Henry Highland Garnet addresses the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York. At one point in this address, Garnet says that public opinion keeps the blacks down every bit as effectively as law. He also says that being a slave does not negate duty to God. Garnet seems to advise rebellion, saying that "it is sinful in the extreme for you to make voluntary submissions." He says that it is wrong for a man to keep a slave as a possession but adds that the slave should resist. Booker T. Washington's address at the Atlanta Cotton Exposition, titled "Atlanta Exposition Address," is touted as the acceptance of...