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great speeches
What did Frederick Douglass say at the 1876 unveiling of the Freedman’s Memorial?
Learn more about this Washington D.C. monument here. I would also encourage you to read David Blight’s Washington Post piece on why it should stay. If you want to dig even deeper, read the opening chapter of Blight’s book Frederick Douglass:...
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Will Future Students Read Mitt Romney’s Speech Against Trump’s Acquittal?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oPNG6HLgM&w=560&h=315] Eliot Cohen, Dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, thinks Romney’s speech will be read for a long time. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic, “In the Long Run, Romney Wins“:...
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What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Ben Railton has a nice reflection on Frederick Douglass’s famous speech. Here is a taste of his post at American Studies blog: I’ve written many times, in this space and elsewhere, about the inspiring history of Elizabeth Freeman, Quock Walker, and their Revolutionary-era peers and...
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Michael Kazin on Inauguration Speeches
FDR’s 1st Inaugural Address (1933) Georgetown historian Michael Kazin reminds us that “inaugural addresses rarely foretell what a president will accomplish in office.” Here are a few great lines from inaugural addresses that did not really pan out in real...
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Obama in Tucson
Obnoxious behavior of the University of Arizona students aside, I was extremely impressed by Barack Obama’s speech at the memorial service for the victims of the Tucson shooting. I think it was the best speech I have heard Obama give […]