James Daley 
Great Speeches by American Women 
Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Geraldine Ferraro, Nancy Pelosi & others

From civil rights to the right to vote, women have spoken up and spoken out throughout American history. Brimming with great power and eloquence, here are twenty-one legendary speeches from the country’s most inspirational female voices, including Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Spanning the centuries from 1851 to 2007, these are the rousing words that continue to endure in our nation’s consciousness.

This distinguished collection includes these American women and their speeches: Sojourner Truth, ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ 1851; Susan B. Anthony, ‘On Behalf of the Woman Suffrage Amendment, ‘ 1880; Margaret Sanger, ‘A Moral Necessity of Birth Control, ‘ 1921; Mary Mc Leod Bethune, ‘A Century of Progress of Negro Women, ‘ 1933; Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘ 1948; Shirley Chisholm, ‘People and Peace, Not Profits and War, ‘ 1969; Geraldine Ferraro, ‘Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address, ‘ 1984; Gloria Steinem, ‘A Twenty-First Century Feminism, ‘ 2002; Nancy Pelosi, ‘Speech Upon Her Election as Speaker of the House, ‘ 2007, and many more unforgettable speeches by spirited and influential American women.

Table of Content

Sojourner Truth,
Ain’t I a Woman? (1851)

Lucretia Mott,
Why Should Not Women Seek to Be a Reformer? (1854)

Susan B. Anthony,
On Behalf of the Woman Suffrage Amendment (1880)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
The Solitude of Self (1892)

Ida Wells-Barnett,
Southern Horror: Lynch Law in all its Phases (1892)

Lucy Stone,
The Progress of Fifty Years (1893)

Jane Addams,
A Modern Lear (1896)

Mary Harris
‘Mother’ Jones, Appeal to the Cause of Miners in the Paint Creek District (1912)

Emma Goldman,
Address to the Jury (1917)

Margaret Sanger,
A Moral Necessity for Birth Control (1921)

Mary Mc Leod Bethune,
A Century of Progress of Negro Women (1933)

Eleanor Roosevelt,
On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Margaret Chase Smith,
Declaration of Conscience (1950)

Shirley Chisholm,
People and Peace,
Not Profits and War (1969)

Geraldine Ferraro,
Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address (1984)

Ann Richards,
Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1988)

Mary Fisher,
A Whisper of AIDS (1992)

Gloria Steinem,
A 21st Century Feminism (2002)

Jane Fonda,
The New Feminism (2004)

Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Remarks on the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act (2006)

Nancy Pelosi,
Speech Upon Her Election as Speaker of the House (2007)