SPEAKING WHILE FEMALE

An anthology offers speeches by diverse women in American history.

In this book, Rubin—a writing and speaking coach—makes a good case for why nothing quite like this collection has been done before. Going beyond similar anthologies, the volume presents a mix of famous and lesser-known female figures, covering much of the span of American history, from the Colonial era to the present, with plenty of representation. The author—who has an online compilation, “Speaking While Female Speech Bank,” on which this book is based—acknowledges up front the challenges of sourcing in some cases. While historical figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt gave addresses that were widely published, other worthy female speakers, especially those who lived prior to 1830, have been barely acknowledged. The author also features the voices of many minority women, including Indigenous figures like Sarah Winnemucca and Ka’iulani. For those who enjoy American women’s history, this anthology will offer a lot that is familiar as well as some surprises. The speakers included here address a variety of issues—not all the speeches are about women, and, in some cases, they examine topics affecting minorities, from “Indian Removal” to Reconstruction-era convict leasing. And in the category of speakers whom readers thought they knew, Rubin offers some challenges. For example, with Sojourner Truth, her famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in dialect (“I have borne thirteen chillen, and seen ’em mos’ all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard”) is followed by the address she actually gave (“I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?”). In addition, the volume delivers occasional examples of White historical figures thought of as progressive (such as Clara Barton) expressing views about enslaved people that would be considered problematic by today’s standards. There is one notable exception in this diverse collection—while there are some Jewish women included, none of them strongly address Jewish issues in the way that other minorities tackle their communities’ problems (the closest is Lillian Wald’s speech on immigrant conditions). Otherwise, this is a compelling and needed historical resource that shows American women’s history in its full diversity.

A valuable and enjoyable historical compilation of American women’s speeches.