This course will examine the public speech and performance of black religious leaders from the Civil Rights era to the present day. This course will explore their historical, social, and political contexts, as well as analysis of their sermons, speeches, and other public discourse. This course will examine various figures including (but not limited to): Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Jesse Jackson, Pauli Murray, Al Sharpton, Susan Johnson Cook, and others. Students will engage primary sources, biographies, scholarly texts, and multimedia recordings in order to develop an understanding of how black religious leaders have sought to generate social and political change in multiple ways.