African American Women's Rhetoric is a comprehensive study of the ways in which African American women in politics, education, business, and other social contexts have tried to persuade their audiences to value what they say and who they are. Through detailed examinations of the rhetoric of a variety of women in important periods in American history, Deborah Atwater reveals that African American women today who engage in speech in the public sphere (such as Condoleezza Rice, Barbara Jordan, and others) stem from an important lineage of active, outspoken women.

African American Women's Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor deals with the rhetoric of African American women from enslavement to current times, examining slave narratives and contemporary print, music, and other media surrounding the lives of African American women. Covering a variety of specific women and their rhetoric within the context of a historical period, the book provides central themes and strategic and social concerns of African American women and their environment. It frames, in some, cases, the rhetoric of contemporary women in politics and other fields of prominence_including Condoleeza Rice and Barbara Lee, among others. Deborah F. Atwater explores how African women today who engage in speech in the public sphere come from a historical line of active women who have been outspoken in politics, education, business, and various social contexts; heretofore, these women have not been studied in a comprehensive manner. Specifically, how do these African American women discuss themselves, and_more importantly_how do they represent who they are in various communities? How do these women persuade their diverse audiences to value what they say and who they are?African American Women's Rhetoric will be an invaluable contribution to upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses in Rhetoric, African American Rhetoric, History, and Women's Studies.

1 Table of Contents 2 Dedication 3 Acknowledgments
Chapter 4 1. Awakenings
Chapter 5 2. And the Truth Shall Set You Free
Chapter 6 3. African American Women in the Civil War and Reconstruction
Chapter 7 4. Leading to World War I
Chapter 8 5. World War II and the Lives of Working-Class African American Women
Chapter 9 6. The Era of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: The Struggle for Rights Continues
Chapter 10 7. African American Women in Contemporary Politics and Political Organizations
Chapter 11 8. Contemporary Times: African American Women and Hip-Hop
Chapter 12 9. The Struggle Continues: Steps to Implementing Change