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As the most famous name to join the lecture circuit renouncing slavery, Frederick Douglass abandons the image of the victim and encourages emancipation. A true supporter of self-development, Douglass preaches the importance of helping yourself before you can truly help others. In his mind, empathy and strength can only be gained once you fight your way from a slave to a man.

Sara Griffith Stanley Woodward (1837-1918) was an advocate for African Americans rights. Representing the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of Delaware, Ohio, she addressed the Convention of Disfranchised Citizens of Ohio at the Columbus City Hall in January 1856. She called upon the delegates to devote themselves with continued and strenuous effort to pursue full citizenship rights.

The essay "The Destiny of Colored Americans" was first published in The North Star, the abolitionist newspaper of Frederick Douglass. It sets out the enduring relationship between Afro-Americans and the United States. Douglass is concerned not only with physical freedom but the right to education, work, and building a life.

In this article that appeared in the December 1866 issue of The Atlantic, Frederick Douglass states that no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. The two main themes are Douglass’ criticism of President Jackson and his urgent call to extend voting rights to African Americans.

The abolitionist, essayist, teacher, and women’s rights activist Maria W. Stewart is thought to have been the first African American woman to raise matters of equality and justice in a US public forum, the New England Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. In her 1832 lecture, Why Sit Ye Here and Die?, she demanded equal rights for African American women while criticizing both the slavery of the South and the lack of opportunity and equality in the North. Her biblical style of oratory and fierce opposition to injustice still inspire today.

Booker T. Washington’s 1901 autobiography can be read as a redemption story echoing many similar voices of its time. Starting from the humiliation he experienced as a slave, he ponders the meaning of identity in a situation that seeks to dehumanize. He furthers his story by expanding on his difficulties in obtaining an education and the need for change in our minds as well as societal structures.

As a former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass was an outspoken leader for African Americans. He wrote this text in response to the American Colonization Society, who believed that black Americans should emigrate back to Africa. Douglass staunchly opposed this notion, saying it was nonsense to displace eight million Americans to a country they didn’t know. He insisted that all Americans - black, white, mixed, or other - were entitled to equal citizenship in the country they were born in.

Daniel A. Payne went down in history as a supporter of the education and liberation of African Americans as well as the first black man selected to lead a college. First published in the Lutheran Herald, his oration supporting the abolition of slavery unites a religious stance with a social criticism. Payne’s words describe slavery as the great oppressor, detaching man from his divinity and lowering him to the level of brutes.

This speech was delivered by Reverand Garnet in 1865 to commemorate the adoption of the 13th Amendment. He discusses slavery and how it has clouded his view since early childhood. His comparison of slavery to that of a demon is powerful, moving, and blunt.

Abolitionist Reverand Thomas S. Wright addresses the president in this letter circa 1837. He declares that colored men are still discriminated against not only in the churches but also in jobs. Truly, people of color were not slaves in the North, but they were not free either.

John Edward Bruce gives this speech on the birth of the "Loyal Order of the Sons of Africa"; a society for colored men who have greviences against the white race. He urges them to organize and fight for the equal rights they deserve.

Reverand Campbell delivers an exhilarating speech on the unfair treatment of the African American man in the United States military. The pay was so drastically different between the white and African American soldiers that Campbell felt the need to pressure Congress into passing a bill that equalized pay.