Maria Stewart is believed by many to have been the first Americanwoman of any race to give public political speeches. In and "Word, LikeFire, and " Valerie C. Cooper argues that the religious, political, andsocial threads of Maria Stewart's thought are tightly interwoven, such that focusingnarrowly on any one aspect would be to misunderstand her rhetoric. Cooperdemonstrates how a certain kind of biblical interpretation can be a Rosetta Stonefor understanding various areas of African American life and thought that stillresonate today.