We would be well advised to ponder Douglasss speech as we frame this conversation. Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. To some, celebrations of American independence on July 4 are a reminder of the countrys hypocrisy on the matter of freedom, as slavery played a key role in the nations history; even today, Americas history of racism is still being written, while other forms of modern-day slavery persist in the U.S. and around the world. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. The above audio (11:35) can be used with the following section of Frederick Douglass's speech. And wear the yoke of tyranny Your republican politics are flagrantly inconsistent. Identify these elements. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a track of land, in which no mention of land was made? Mock said that Douglass has been a constant presence throughout her life. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Everyone is welcome to read; this event is free and open to the public. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? Restore. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. To man his plundered fights again They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. Frederick Douglass's, "What To the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Obviously, the speech has taken a much darker meaning in the Age of [President Donald] Trump. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. With head, and heart, and hand Ill strive, I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. It was a turbulent time for Douglass personally, too. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? What are some of Frederick Douglass's most famous writings and speeches Oppression makes a wise man mad. Although it has also facilitated the spread of hateful ideas and untruths, I suspect Douglass, who understood perhaps better than anyone in the 19th century the power of images, would have reveled in our ability to capture and convey video of events. ROY: Douglass wrote the speech in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which effectively extended the reach of slave power in the South throughout the rest of the country. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Whateer the peril or the cost, Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? That holiday, he delivered the greatest anti-slavery speech in American history. All Rights Reserved. You have reached your limit of free articles. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. So, all these years later, our massive system of incarceration echoes Douglasss charge that, There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. This is not to say there are not tyrannical regimes elsewhere in the world or that other nations do not abuse human rights, but it is the self-righteousness of our celebration in the midst of ongoing injustice that continues to resonate today. ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. The event is co-convened by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, Community Change, Inc., the Museum of African American History (Boston and Nantucket), and MassHumanities. So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. Frederick Douglass, "What the Black Man Wants" The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! What is the main message of Douglass's speech? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 3 Lessons From Frederick Douglass About Finding the Courage to Speak Up THAT HOUR WILL, COME, to each, to all, The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. This speech is now remembered as oneof Douglass' most poignant. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. There should be no shoulder that does not bear the burden of the government. He had a prophetic vision for the future that he was always trying to work toward. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. In every clime be understood, It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. I think he would look at the ongoing gulf between our ideals and reality and might refer back to some of his own analysis to understand the current contradictions. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Douglass states, "My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. The report is remembered for its conclusion that: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.. Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? No! EDSITEment is a project of theNational Endowment for the Humanities, Uncle Toms Cabin: Or Life among the Lowly, From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. He begins his speech by modestly apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd and recognizes that he has come a long way since his escape from slavery. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. And each return for evil, good, Frederick Douglass's 4th of July speech still burns with his spirit But all to manhoods stature tower, You may rejoice, I must mourn. Americans! How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other.. Be warned! Its an extraordinary political moment.. David Harris: Douglass was known for his oratory and this speech is no exception. The testimony of Senator Breese, Lewis Cass, and many others that might be named, who are everywhere esteemed as sound lawyers, so regard the constitution. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it. In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. AN summary of Themes in Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Lived of Frederick Douglass. The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. Frederick Douglass (18181895) was a former slave who became a nationally recognizedabolitionist orator during the antebellum period. Mark them! So witness Heaven! Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. An edited version of Douglasss speech is provided below. This is the greatest anti-slavery speech uttered by an American I recall seeing a group of young blonde-haired children standing at the wall overlooking the reading as a group of late adolescents and young men sat on the adjacent steps on a lunch break from their work with YouthBuild. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! On July 4, 1862 with the war underway he addressed an audience of about 2,000 in Himrods Corner, N.Y.; Blight argues that his shift then from addressing simply you to discussing the Revolution as something undertaken by your fathers, and my fathers indicates he believed emancipation will happen more than he did a decade earlier. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? | Similar Answers For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? On the Fourth of July, 1852, America celebrated its freedom, as it does every Independence Day. Be driven. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. You may well cherish the memory of such men. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to many others if they knew about it. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. I am also hosting a summer reading and discussion series called Race, Fragility, and Anti-Racism through the Somerville Museum and the City on a Hill network of local churches. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder, he said. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. As the project scholar, my role is to advise the process as it rolls out, to give a talk that provides contemporary and historical context and to facilitate the community discussion around the speech against the backdrop of other relevant issues. Formerly . Douglass praises and respects the signers of the Declaration of Independence, people who put the interests of a country above their own. These rules are well established. The first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, catapulted him to fame and invigorated the abolitionist movement. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. What did he say and in what context? What is surprising about this appeal? Harvard Law Today recently interviewed David Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, the events cosponsor, about the public reading and the continued relevance of Douglass words. One person who felt that way was Douglass, the famous abolitionist, who was himself born into slavery. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? The fight for ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. Indeed, his speech, which warns that Your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent, should be required reading for any such commission. The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress as part of this compromise was bitterly resented by the Northern states. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view," (52-54). How does he show that everyone in America, North and South, views enslaved Africans as human beings. So while the U.S. tends to go all out celebrating freedom on the Fourth of July, alternate independence commemorations held a day later often draw attention to a different side of that story, with readings of the Frederick Douglass speech best known today as What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped "To palter with us in a double sense: And keep the word of promise to the ear, But break it to the heart.". God speed the hour, the glorious hour, One of the biggest challenges we face in our present moment is building sustainable movements that fundamentally change peoples minds about race and racism. You could instruct me in regard to them. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: God speed the year of jubilee or is it in the temple? The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. 'Don't get in our way,' Harris urges in speech at Howard University On top of his federal work, Douglass kept a vigorous speaking tour schedule. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. GAZETTE: Why is it important to do this kind of community-building work at a local level? We may finally be thinking about creating a commission to study the possibility of reparationsas with all deliberate speed, the American way of tackling a problem takes so much time and patienceand for this we can be thankful. They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Understanding contradictions such as this is critical for honest conversation. Douglass repeatedly uses the pronouns you and your (rather than our and ours) throughout this section. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Frederick Douglass Museum in Rochester NY: Fundraising underway They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. I said then and throughout his presidency that rather than freeing us from talking about race, his election freed us to talk about it; and we entitled that first event: Reading Frederick Douglass in the Age of Obama.. ROY: The better we get to know the people that we live with, that we work around, that we see at the coffee shop, and the more we talk about these important racial issues with one another, the easier it will be to heal our divided communities. This power fuels modern abolition movements, whether of human trafficking, prison or police. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. "[L]et me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it.". Space is comparatively annihilated. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Two readings, 165 years apart, addressed to a nation at a precarious political moment. That point is conceded already. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. Douglass' 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, described his time as an enslaved worker in Maryland. What is his opinion of the American Founders? Our ability to communicate has led to much greater organizing and mobilization. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. It is actually quite longwe use an abridged version for our readingsbut despite its length it is at once riveting and concise. When the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, N.Y., invited Douglass to give a July 4 speech in 1852, Douglass opted to speak on July 5 instead. As with rivers so with nations. Is it at the gateway? There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. In this speech, he called out the "hypocrisy of the nation" (Douglass), questioning the nation's . They that can, may; I cannot. Its the birth of American Independence, the birth of a nation, and what the speech is saying is you must destroy first what you created and remake it, or it will be destroyed and you with it, says Blight. The political party system was beginning to tear itself asunder over the expansion of slavery, he says. Thats a tough one for me. They were great men toogreat enough to give fame to a great age. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. You have already declared it. And from his prison-house, the thrall There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. My subject, then fellow citizens, says Douglass, is American slavery. He brings that subject to life in vivid and sometimes horrifying terms, Standing, as he says, with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion. The effect is undeniable and its implications inescapable: the contradiction between the celebration and the bondage it masks demands action. Frederick Douglass, America's most famous anti-slavery activist and fugitive slave, saw no ground to celebrate: he saw the octopus arms of slavery stretched everywhere, exposing the hollowness. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. You may rejoice, I must mourn. Noting the rapid changes in transportation and communication he insists that Space is comparatively annihilated. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. The headings in brackets have been supplied by the editor to guide your reading as have the questions after each section. Well, we have all come to understand that while on its face this amendment appeared to outlaw forever slavery and involuntary servitude, its exception for those serving a punishment for crime left open the door for what Douglas Blackmon has called Slavery by Another Name and Ana DuVernays so painfully rendered film, 13th, revealed as continued oppression in the 21st century. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. From what point of view does he look at it? They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. Can you tell me about the origins of the Reading Frederick Douglas Together project? "We need the. Across the country, people were thinking and arguing about slavery, abolitionism, and the future of the nation. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th of July oration. Why Frederick Douglass Matters - History While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (U.S Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! Why does he call his own time degenerate? At the time of the delivery of this speech, Douglass had been living in Rochester, New York for several years editing a weekly abolitionist newspaper. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. In an Independence Day address in 1852, abolitionist movement leader Frederick Douglass famously asked a gathering in Rochester, New York What to the slave is the Fourth of July?Answering his own question, it is a day, he said, that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. Douglass speech laid bare the hypocrisy of American ideals of freedom at a time when millions were living in Constitutionally-sanctioned bondage across the United States. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong?
