Great Speeches by American Women

From civil rights to the right to vote, women have spoken out with great power and eloquence throughout the annals of American history. Here are the legendary speeches from the country's most inspirational female voices, including Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Church Terrell, and many others.

James Daley is the editor of several Dover editions, including The World's Greatest Short Stories, Classic Crime Stories, Favorite Christmas Poems, Great Speeches by African Americans, and Great Writers on the Art of Fiction.

Sojourner Truth, Ain't I a Woman? (1851)
Lucretia Mott, Why Should Not Women Seek to Be a Reformer? (1854)
Susan B. Anthony, On Behalf of the Woman Suffrage Amendment (1880)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Solitude of Self (1892)
Ida Wells-Barnett, Southern Horror: Lynch Law in all its Phases (1892)
Lucy Stone, The Progress of Fifty Years (1893)
Jane Addams, A Modern Lear (1896)
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Appeal to the Cause of Miners in the Paint Creek District (1912)
Emma Goldman, Address to the Jury (1917)
Margaret Sanger, A Moral Necessity for Birth Control (1921)
Mary McLeod Bethune, A Century of Progress of Negro Women (1933)
Eleanor Roosevelt, On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience (1950)
Shirley Chisholm, People and Peace, Not Profits and War (1969)
Geraldine Ferraro, Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address (1984)
Ann Richards, Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1988)
Mary Fisher, A Whisper of AIDS (1992)
Gloria Steinem, A 21st Century Feminism (2002)
Jane Fonda, The New Feminism (2004)
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Remarks on the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act (2006)
Nancy Pelosi, Speech Upon Her Election as Speaker of the House (2007)