The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Douglasss searing ability to cut through the rhetoric of freedom and democracy lives on in works like these that reveal the enduring cruelty of the exemption as it continues to haunt our flawed legal and punishment systems. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. America has been working to fully live up to the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence ever since the document was printed on July 4, 1776. From what point of view does he look at it? Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Chan School of Public Health celebrates opening of $25M Thich Nhat Hanh Center for research, approaches to mindfulness, Women who suppressed emotions had less diverse microbiomes in study that also found specific bacterial link to happiness, Tenn. lawmaker Justin Pearson, Parkland survivor David Hogg 23 talk about tighter gun control, GOP attempts to restrict voting rights, importance of local politics, Dangers involved in rise of neurotechnology that allows for tracking of thoughts, feelings examined at webinar, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, By Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite Harvard Staff Writer, 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. I will not. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. 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. Frederick Douglass - Narrative, Quotes & Facts | HISTORY Alison Drasner, the project coordinator for the Somerville Museum, teamed up with Dave Ortega at the Somerville Media Center to prerecord voices of 50 Somerville residents, including my 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, to read sections of the speech. "We need the. As with any great oration, Douglass builds to his point, which is to distinguish between the spirit of celebration typically surrounding the holiday and the misery suffered by enslaved people on that day and every day. 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. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. 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. Presenting ideas in. But all to manhoods stature tower, In the late 1840s and into the 1850s, his finances were tight, and he was struggling to sustain the newspaper he founded, The North Star. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. He further says, the Constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Host called senior colleague a C-word in text message obtained by lawyers as part of Dominion lawsuit Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News came after he used vulgar language to describe a . Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. You have reached your limit of free articles. Douglass continues to interrogate the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, to enslaved African Americans experiencinggrave inequality and injustice: Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? 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 denunciation 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. So witness Heaven! The time for such argument is passed. Douglass's purpose in writing his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was to provide a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery and thereby support the. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. The fight for independence was a long, hard battle. Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in American Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. These rules are well established. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. I am not that man. God speed the day when human blood Noting the rapid changes in transportation and communication he insists that Space is comparatively annihilated. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? "Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved. Why does Douglass appeal to the Constitution in the last section of the speech? What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. In the early 2000s Community Change started a tradition of reading the Douglass speech in its library. As with rivers so with nations. God speed the hour, the glorious hour, The main message of Douglass's speechis that it is hypocritical to celebrate the Fourth of July as a day of freedom and independence while slaves are not independent nor do they have freedom. And that is one of the truly special elements, the combination of a core group of readers and the accidental attendees who happen by and hear bits and pieces of this incredible speech. Indeed, in one of the most timeless passages in the speech, Douglass insists that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July, adding as if speaking today, Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. 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. Frederick Douglass's, "What To the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. Why, then, did Douglass speak as harshly as he did? Why do you think he delivered the speech on the 5th rather than the 4th of July? To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, is inhuman mockery. Space is comparatively annihilated. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. Douglass's speech emphasized that American slavery and American freedom is a shared history and that the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom, transformed our nation. Not blow for blow; Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? 4 Pages. Why Frederick Douglass Wanted Black Men to Fight in the Civil War - History Harvard Law Today: Can you tell me a little bit about Douglass speech? One person who felt that way was Douglass, the famous abolitionist, who was himself born into slavery. "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God." I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. SOURCE FORMAT: Public speech (excerpt) WORD COUNT: 1,660 words Excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "Fifth of July" Speech (1852). 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? 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. "[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.". 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. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. 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 denunciation 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 hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. 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. What are some of Frederick Douglass's most famous writings and speeches ", Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. But its quite another to change the way you see yourself and to grow into a person deeply committed to long-term interracial coalition building. We would be well advised to ponder Douglasss speech as we frame this conversation. 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.. Frederick Douglass, "What the Black Man Wants" He point-by-point counters a. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. we wept when we remembered Zion. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Fredrick Douglas Flashcards | Quizlet What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? No! 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. Tucker Carlson's vulgar language in texts contributed to Fox News They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. Be warned! I trust the people of America," Harris said to the crowd. Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. Can you tell me about the origins of the Reading Frederick Douglas Together project? There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. Do you think that section has any lessons for us today? "So don't get in our way because if you do, we're going to stand up, we're going to organize and we're going to speak up and . 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. Who can reason on such a proposition? Go forth. "My subject, then fellow citizens," says Douglass, "is American slavery ." What will this years event be like? In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county.
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