This volume offers a comprehensive survey of African-American rhetoric within a broad historical context, exploring the major cultural and theoretical issues in the field. The 19 original essays that make up the collection look at distinct African-American rhetorical traditions. "Understanding African American Rhetoric is the most comprehensive, scholarly, methodologically sound presentation of African American rhetoric to date! Given the many leading intellectuals who wrote chapters, this book is essential reading for both scholars and practitioners. It is likely to become a canonical text." -- Jack L. Daniel, co-author, with Omari C. Daniel, of We Fish: The Journey to Fatherhood