The book’s title comes from a long-held black American

church tradition. In many black churches, when the preacher
delivers the word in an especially compelling fashion, some-
one in the pews is likely to declare, “Make it plain, preacher,
make it plain.” That is what I have tried to do: Make It Plain.

My interest in public speaking came very early. It began in

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Atlanta,
with the children’s Easter Sunday afternoon program. The
children of the Sunday school were asked to give a memo-
rized presentation, usually a combination of scripture and re-
ligious poetry on the theme of Easter. It was an important
event in the life of the church and we were made to feel it was
a significant step in our lives, too. Its fundamental purpose
was to ground us in the church and in effect have us be advo-
cates to the congregation about Easter.

The church was the bedrock of life in my public housing

project. That’s what you did Sunday mornings: You went to
church. Both my parents were very involved in St. Paul. Its
rituals and rhythms were interwoven with the Jordan family
rituals and rhythms. So, as children, we memorized our
speeches. We attended Easter practice several times a week,
and then, come Easter Sunday afternoon at four o’clock, the
congregation—parents and grandparents, and friends of par-
ents and grandparents—assembled to hear us. All children
got their applause. Even children who cried, stumbled, or re-
mained silent out of fear, which happened often, were ap-
plauded. If you were good at delivery, to the applause would

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INTRODUCTION

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