Blackbirds Singing by Janet Dewart Bell

An uplifting collection of speeches by African American women.

When Mary Ann Shadd Cary-the first Black woman publisher in North America-declared, "break every yoke . . . let the oppressed go free" to congregants in Chatham, Canada, in 1858, she joined a tradition of African American women speaking for their own liberation.

Drawing from a rich archive of political speeches, acclaimed activist and author Janet Dewart Bell, the author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, explores this tradition in Blackbirds Singing, a soaring new collection of African American women's speeches, gorgeously packaged to make it the perfect gift. 

With an expansive historical lens, Blackbirds Singing celebrates the tradition of Black women's political speech and labor, allowing the voices and powerful visions of African American women to speak across generations building power for the world.