The Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric is a comprehensive compendium of primary texts that is designed for use by students, teachers, and scholars of rhetoric and for the general public interested in the history of African American communication.

Part I: African American Rhetoric—Definitions and Understanding Introduction: African American Rhetoric: What It Be, What It Do Volume Editors: Vershawn Ashanti Young and Michelle Bachelor RobinsonSection 1. African American Rhetorical theory Edited by Vershawn Ashanti Young and Michelle Bachelor RobinsonPart II: The Blackest Hours—Origins and Histories of African American RhetoricIntroduction: "Coming Out of the Dark": The Beginnings of African American Rhetoric Edited and with an Introduction by Michelle Bachelor RobinsonSection 2. Nobody Knows Our Name: African Orature in the American DiasporaEdited and with an Introduction by Kermit E. CampbellSection 3. Religion and Spirituality/Transportations and Transformations of Spirituality and Identity in the New WorldEdited and with an Introduction by Kameelah Martin and Elizabeth WestSection 4. Language, Literacy, and EducationEdited and with an Introduction by Valerie Kinloch and Donja ThomasSection 5. Black Presence: African American Political Rhetoric Edited and with an Introduction by Michelle Bachelor RobinsonPart III: Discourses On Black BodiesIntroduction: Genders and Sexualities Vershawn Ashanti YoungSection 6. Race Women and Black Feminisms Edited and with an Introduction by Joy JamesSection 7. Motions of ManhoodEdited and with an Introduction by Vershawn Ashanti YoungSection 8. the Quare of QueerEdited and with an Introduction by Jeffrey McCunePart IV: The New Blackness: Multiple Cultures, Multiple ModesIntroductions:Courageous Rhetoric: Caribbean Foundations, New Media, and Black Aesthetics Vershawn Ashanti YoungEveryday Rhetoric: Rhetoric EverydayMichelle Bachelor RobinsonSection 9. Caribbean Thought and Its Critique of SubjugationEdited and with an Introduction by Aaron Kamugisha and Yanique HumeSection 10. Black Technocultural ExpressivityEdited and with an Introduction by Dara N. ByrneSection 11. Beat Rebels Corrupting Youth Against BabylonEdited and with an Introduction by Greg ThomasSection 12. Black Arts: Black ArgumentEdited and with an Introduction by Michelle Bachelor Robinson