Addresses and Orations

In the tradition of the biblical prophets, orators warned of destruction if the nation continued to support enslavement and white supremacy. These documents also demonstrate the direct links between oral and print traditions. Orations were delivered with the intention of circulating the text in pamphlet form. Walker’s Appeal (1829) demonstrates how writers used typography, punctuation, and other elements to reproduce oral performance on the page. Orations were often sponsored by fraternal organizations, mutual aid societies, and religious denominations, and were delivered before audiences in lecture halls, churches, and other public venues.


Absalom Jones and others. “The Petition of the People of Colour, Free Men, Within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia.” December 30, 1799. Reprinted in John Parrish. Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People. Philadelphia: Kimber, Conrad, & Co., 1806.


Peter Williams. An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Delivered in the African Church, in the City of New-York, January 1, 1808. New York: Samuel Wood, 1808.

“Fathers, Brethren, and Fellow Citizens.” For decades, free Black communities gathered on January 1 to commemorate federal government’s officially prohibiting the “importation of slaves.” Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., New York’s first ordained Black Episcopal priest, delivered this address the day the law took effect. Williams had this pamphlet copyrighted and the document includes an "Order of the Celebration of the Day" outlining the day's events, including Williams's oration.

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.


Peter Williams. A Discourse Delivered on the Death of Capt. Paul Cuffe, Before the New-York African Institution in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. New York: B. Young and Co., 1817.


David Walker. Walker’s Appeal, in Four Articles Together With a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, But in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America. Third and Last Edition. Boston, 1830. First published in 1829.

 Walker's appeal, in four articles no. 5 - title page

“See your Declaration Americans!!! Do you understand your own language?” Walker used his connections as a used clothes salesman and agent for Freedom’s Journal to enlist an interracial array of sailors, newspaper editors, tradespeople, and bookdealers to circulate his Appeal. Appeal reached as far as Florida within a matter of months. Its explicit call for enslaved people to escape, and use violence if necessary, caused a firestorm across the South, including passage of anti-literacy laws and quarantine laws targeting free Black sailors. The lefthand copy bears the inscription, “Rev. Samuel J. May. From his friend and admirer [William] Lloyd Garrison.”

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.

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Speeches Delivered at the Anti-Colonization Meeting, in Exeter Hall, London, July 13, 1833. Boston: Garrison & Knapp, 1833.

“Perhaps it is not generally known that in the United States of America—that land of freedom and equality—the laws are so exceedingly liberal that they give to man the liberty of purchasing as many negroes as he can find means to pay for…and also the liberty to sell them again.”

Paul delivered this address against the American Colonization Society as part of a larger meeting on July 13, 1833. Born free in Exeter, NH, Paul served as the first pastor of Albany, New York’s Union Street Baptist Church where he also helped found the Union Society of Albany for the Improvement of the Colored People.

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.

Speeches delivered at the Anti-Colonization Meeting, in Exeter Hall, London, July 13, 1833 (1 of 4)
Speeches delivered at the Anti-Colonization Meeting, in Exeter Hall, London, July 13, 1833 (2 of 4)
Speeches delivered at the Anti-Colonization Meeting, in Exeter Hall, London, July 13, 1833 (3 of 4)
Speeches delivered at the Anti-Colonization Meeting, in Exeter Hall, London, July 13, 1833 (4 of 4)

Alexander Crummell. The Man: the Hero: the Christian!: A Eulogy on the Life and Character of Thomas Clarkson: Delivered in the City of New-York. New York: Egbert, Hovey & King, 1847.


Alexander Crummell. The Duty of a Rising Christian State to Contribute to the World’s Well-Being and Civilization. London: Wertheim & Macintosh, 1856.


Alexander Crummell. The Relations and Duties of Free Colored Men in America to Africa: a Letter to Charles B. Dunbar, M.D., Esq., of New York City. Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood, and Company, 1861.

Letter from Alexander Crummell to Charles B. Dunbar (graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, who later emigrated to Liberia). In this early instance of pan-Africanist thought, Alexander Crummell calls on Black Americans to help “civilize” and develop the African Continent.

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.


Alexander Crummell. The Future of Africa: Being Addresses, Sermons, Etc., Etc. 2nd ed. New York: C. Scribner, 1862.

A collection of Alexander Crummell’s addresses, sermons, and work presented in Liberia. Crummell’s signed presentation copy to Jared Sparks (former president of Harvard University): “Hon: Jared Sparks. With the respects of Alex Crummell. Washington, D.C., 5th May 1862.”

The future of Africa : being addresses, sermons, etc., etc. (1 of 3)
The future of Africa : being addresses, sermons, etc., etc. (2 of 3)
The future of Africa : being addresses, sermons, etc., etc. (3 of 3)

Edward Wilmot Blyden. Our Origin, Dangers and Duties: The Annual Address before the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Monrovia, July 26, 1865, The Day of National Independence; and Repeated on Tuesday, August 1, 1865, At Caldwell, St. Paul's River. New York: J.A. Gray & Green, 1865.

The duty of a rising Christian state - title page

A collection of Blyden’s essays and speeches on African colonization and his work in Liberia, including his address delivered in commemoration of Liberian independence on July 26, 1865.

View selected pages from Blyden's addresses