The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. That day will come all feuds to end. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart." is the popular name of a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on the Fifth of July 1852 in Rochester, N.Y.. Each foe. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Noting the rapid changes in transportation and communication he insists that Space is comparatively annihilated. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. 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. Understanding contradictions such as this is critical for honest conversation. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Americans! With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? In Douglasss honor, wed like to share an abridged version of his speech now considered one of the greatest in US history. On July 5, 1875, as Reconstruction brought its own fears, like violence from the Ku Klux Klan, Douglass shifted his speech for the day, asking, If war among the whites brought peace and liberty to the blacks, what will peace among the whites bring? But the 1852 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? speech remains the best known of his addresses on the occasion, especially as it became even more widely read in the late-20th century, with events like the public readings sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council and a powerful reading by James Earl Jones in 2004. More than 150 years later, Keidrick Roy, a doctoral student in American Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a U.S. Air Force veteran, will host a virtual community reading and discussion of the storied speech at the Somerville Museum on Thursday as part of the annual state-wide MassHumanities program Reading Frederick Douglass Together.. Read each part and answer the questions at the end of that part. Members of the public will take turns reading parts of the speech until theyve read all of it, together. What is their most significant accomplishment? At the time Douglass spoke, Blight says, the opportunity was ripe for a lecture on the moral crisis. For those who feel that way, July 5 may be an easier day to celebrate: on that day in 1827, 4,000 African Americans paraded down Broadway in New York City to celebrate the end of slavery in their state. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? Although primarily remembered for pointing out the hypocrisy of Independence Day in a nation that condoned the enslavement of millions of people, the speech also includes an interesting passage on the impact of globalization. Paul Marcus, then the director of Community Change, and I contacted another colleague, David Tebaldi, then executive director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities (now MassHumanities) about sponsoring a public reading. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? 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. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. Douglass's own sons, Lewis and Charles, became two of the first to volunteer for the 54th, which ultimately comprised more than 1,000 men from 15 Northern states. 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?. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? 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. The above audio (11:35) can be used with the following section of Frederick Douglass's speech. In every clime be understood, Hard-hit sectors are recovering rapidly - tourism and hospitality establishments are back in business. Douglass made the speech nearly a decade before the American Civil War, a conflict that ultimately led to the adoption of the 13th amendment, which ended slavery. The time for such argument is passed. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. 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! He begins by praising the young nation and its origins in righteous protest against oppression by a tyrannical monarch. I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just. By equal birth! Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? Across the country, people were thinking and arguing about slavery, abolitionism, and the future of the nation. Two years before Douglass' famed speech, the U.S. government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required runaway slaves to be returned to their owners. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. (modern), Frederick Douglas addressing an English audience during his visit to London in 1846., Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. It were considered radical, extreme, and risky. A Brief History of the S'more, America's Favorite Campfire Snack, The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. That point is conceded already. 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. Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Harriet Beecher Stowes novel about slavery, Uncle Toms Cabin: Or Life among the Lowly had been published a few months before and unexpectedly became a national bestseller. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. That year will come, and freedoms reign, 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. Do you think Douglass would be surprised to learn that Americans are reciting his words nearly 170 years later? we wept when we remembered Zion. "[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.". My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. Read the address in full onPBS. The time was when such could be done. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. In doing so he sets the stage to distinguish the holiday for his audience and establishes the gulf between those in his audience and those who remain in bondage. 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. What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Go forth. But we also need to invest as a city and as a society into reading and learning more about the present realities of oppressed peoples. In the second part of the speech, Douglass turns to the present and his own feelings about the 4th of July celebration. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. During the Civil War he worked tirelessly for the emancipation ofenslaved African Americans and duringthe decades followingthe war, he was arguably the most influential African American leader in the nation. As with rivers so with nations. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. From what point of view does he look at it? We would be well advised to ponder Douglasss speech as we frame this conversation. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. GAZETTE: What is something you have discovered about Douglass while researching this speech and his work more broadly that people might be surprised to learn? Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. On the Fourth of July, 1852, America celebrated its freedom, as it does every Independence Day. Next, Douglass presents a picture of American slavery. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Two readings, 165 years apart, addressed to a nation at a precarious political moment. And wear the yoke of tyranny 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. He follows this observation by closing with words from William Lloyd Garrison, suggesting the new reach of the great abolitionist across the ocean as part of a global abolition movement. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" On the 2nd of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea [i.e., the idea of total separation of the colonies from the crown] with all the authority of national sanction. The spoiler of his prey deprive Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. 1585 Massachusetts Ave. and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?, Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. The above audio reading by actor Ossie Davis can be used alongside the full text of Frederick Douglass's speech delivered on July 5, 1852 at Corinthian Hall to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. He engages the listeners emotionally by stating his opinion over the topic of slavery. 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. Shall exercise a lordly power, There is blasphemy in the thought. Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. Like brutes no more. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length. 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. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Would you argue more, and denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." Read its preamble, consider its purposes. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth. Douglass printed the speech in his newspaper, Frederick Douglass' Paper, and published 700 copies of it in pamphlet form. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. To what other elements in the American political tradition does he appeal? The Compromise of 1850 had failed to resolve the controversy over the admission of new slaveholding states to the Union. A small group would gather in a circle and take turns reading paragraphs from the speech. ', But such is not the state of the case. Douglass repeatedly uses the pronouns you and your (rather than our and ours) throughout this section. AN summary of Themes in Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Lived of Frederick Douglass. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. -douglas was trying to to reach to people who didn't agree with slavery, but never did anything to fight against it How does the struggle for freedom change with history? The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. In this speech, he called out the "hypocrisy of the nation" (Douglass), questioning the nation's . Why, then, did Douglass speak as harshly as he did? Presenting ideas in. Oppression makes a wise man mad. Douglass message about America struggling to live up to the lofty goals it set for itself at the founding continues to be relevant, says Blight. 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. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? 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. Nobody doubts it. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! 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. The fight for independence was a long, hard battle. Douglass continued to add to the speech in the years that followed. So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. Do you think that section has any lessons for us today? speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. 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. Keidrick Roy, the host of the virtual reading event. "It is," he declares, "the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom." In doing so he sets the stage to distinguish the holiday for his audience and establishes the gulf between those in his audience and those who remain in bondage. Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. The headings in brackets have been supplied by the editor to guide your reading as have the questions after each section. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. Within twenty years Douglass was the one of the most famous men in the United Statesauthor of two widely read memoirs and an orator who commanded among the highest speaking fees in the nation. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! His message was well-received because they believed in what he was standing up for. 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. Is slavery among them? The speech was originally delivered at a moment when the country was fiercely locked in debate over the question of slavery, but theres a reason why it has remained famous more than 150 years after emancipation, says David Blight, author of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. The claims of human brotherhood, The country was in the midst of crises over fugitive slave rescues in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The people who came to America were surprised by its history. The purpose of Douglass' message was to inform abolitions of the inhumane treatment of slaves and to continue making progress in freeing slaves. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? 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. Overseers announce new president, vice chair. 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. But for me, the hope is in the very fact of gathering, of reading the speech in community, renewing the bonds with others who share a determination to change, and committing to act accordingly. That holiday, he delivered the greatest anti-slavery speech in American history. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. O! He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. or is it in the temple? These rules are well established. I will not. 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. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. ", Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? But, he said, speaking more than a decade before slavery was ended nationally, a lot of work still needed to be done so that all citizens can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Above your national, tumultuous joy the July 4th celebrations of white Americans were the mournful wails of millions whose heavy chains are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.. And never from my chosen post, What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. In Douglass' speech, his tone mainly appeals to emotions. It seems that every year we have marked some anniversary with the reading, whether civil rights movement or Civil War related. David Harris: Douglass was known for his oratory and this speech is no exception. Formerly . Addressing an audience of about 600 at the newly constructed Corinthian Hall, he started out by acknowledging that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave and great men, and that the way they wanted the Republic to look was in the right spirit. Why does he call his own time degenerate? 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. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. We unveiled the first 10 members of the FD200 today, on the 166th anniversary of Douglasss speech. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. SOURCE FORMAT: Public speech (excerpt) WORD COUNT: 1,660 words Excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "Fifth of July" Speech (1852). 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. ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. A black-and-white photograph of Frederick Douglass wearing a jacket, waistcoat, and bowtie. Crowd of men and women during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., Aug.28, 1963, Get the latest information about timed passes and tips for planning your visit, Search the collection and explore our exhibitions, centers, and digital initiatives, Online resources for educators, students, and families, Engage with us and support the Museum from wherever you are, Find our upcoming and past public and educational programs, Learn more about the Museum and view recent news, National Archives and Records Administration, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Douglass's voluminous writings and speeches reveal a man who believed fiercely in the ideals on which America was founded, but understoodwith the scars to prove itthat democracy would . 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. What are these? Obviously, the speech has taken a much darker meaning in the Age of [President Donald] Trump. . This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. 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. Hisspeech, given at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. To break the rod, and rend the gyve, Uncle Toms Cabin had just been published that spring and was taking the country by storm. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Douglass states, "My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. Funny you should ask. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the 'lame man leap as an hart. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy continues to recover. As I mentioned earlier, the first reading was designed to the think about race in the Age of Obama. I remember that first year, looking out at the crowd I was filled with the kind of hope Douglass expressed at the end of his speech. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued.
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