A former slave and the most influential African American at the turn of the 20th century

A Jamaican immigrant who urged black Americans to form their own nation in Africa

A prominent educator and leading civil rights figure in the New Deal era

A popular comedian and activist in the 1960s involved in the 1963 marches in Birmingham

Helped lead the fight for black voting rights in Mississippi

A young civil rights organizer who popularized the slogan, "Black Power"

The most prominent leader of the non-violent civil rights movement in the 20th century

The first African American woman to be elected to Congress

U.S. Representative who made a historic speech during the 1974 Watergate hearings

A civil rights leader, disciple of Martin Luther King, Jr., and two-time presidential candidate

A Supreme Court Justice appointed by President George H. W. Bush

U.S. Democratic Senator from Illinois

A note about the transcripts:

The transcripts on this Web site were drawn from the accompanying recordings. In some cases, we were able to start with existing transcripts in the public domain and check them against the recordings. In other instances, we produced the transcripts ourselves with the help of dedicated colleagues.

On some occasions, the available text of a speech differed from the recording. Speakers commonly diverge from their written texts, which are sometimes speeches they give repeatedly, but no one takes the time to document the extemporaneous remarks. Each transcript here has been checked against the recordings by at least two sets of ears. But occasionally, words in some of the recordings can be difficult to hear. We've used our best judgment to make the most faithful transcripts we can.