What the Slave Is the Fourth of July? - Frederick Douglass
Listen to an audio re-enactment of the abolitionist's famous speech
I always have ambivalence about the Fourth of July. I love summer and cookouts. I hate the hypocrisy of celebrating freedom in a land that enslaved millions. Listen to the primary resource below, and decide for yourself. And consider supporting me as a paid subscriber, so I can continue to bring these resources to you.
Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence—41 of them were enslavers.
The Fourth of July holiday commemorates the bold action of colonists in North America who insisted on their independence from Britain. They issued their call with the historic words…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Yet only landowning white men were entitled to full rights and the freedom to pursue the lives they wanted.
Women, Native Americans, and especially Black people were not included in the freedom dreams so eloquently expressed in the nation’s founding documents.
It took the Civil War, women’s suffrage movements, and the Civil Rights movement, plus countless other unheralded but courageous actions to secure the basic rights everyone in the United States should have had from the start.
Frederick Douglass—a formerly enslaved man who escaped to freedom with the help of his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass—knew better than most the hypocrisy of a land that prided itself on democracy and freedom while enslaving millions.
In a speech given on July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, , asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?”
Listen to me reciting the speech in the audio link below.
I also examine Douglass’ famous speech and analyze how he thought about freedom, unfreedom, and how those whose independence was restrained should view Independence Day.
We take his speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” as our primary text for exploring the tension between liberty and bondage in U.S. history.
The video replay is posted on my YouTube channel (apologies for the fuzziness!). I have posted the audio here in case you prefer to listen—just bear in mind I occasionally respond to comments from live listeners. :-)
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How do you commemorate the 4th of July knowing that slavery was still accepted and practiced on the day the US celebrates independence from Britain? Comment below!
Learn more about Frederick Douglass’ first wife, Anna Murray Douglass, who helped him escape to freedom. She sewed the sailor’s uniform Douglass disguised himself in during the escape. Anna Murray also financially supported Douglass until he could start earning money. She raised their children and opened their home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. She’s also on the cover of the my book!
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Thank you Dr. Tisby.
I would like to encourage you in the vast struggle to remind all of America that racism is still alive and flourishing today. It wears different clothing and hides in the corridors and halls of the white nationalist political agenda, but the intent of hatred, belittlement, and discrimination remains the same in the hearts and minds of far too many American citizens today.
I find it difficult to celebrate Independence Day, 2024 America! I will remain home today and read a few chapters of your classic and amazing book, "The Color of Compromise." The one book that should be on every public-school bookshelf across America.
It is time to engage those whose hearts and minds are dedicated to devaluing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
I am hoping, praying, that you would consider a close examination of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, infamous Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861. To expose those who still long for the days of George Wallace and his despicable 1963 inaugural speech: "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
I opine that America only defeated the Confederacy on the battlefields of Civil War America. Sadly, it did not defeat the attitudes or change the minds of those who choose hate.
America and her allies defeated Germany/Axis in WW2.; however, they failed to defeat Nazism! The "Unite the Right" Rally, from August 11 to 12, 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia, is a clear and evidentiary display that Adolf Hitler's ideology still plagues America today!
It has now been 248 years since America's Declaration of Independence 07-04-1776. I believe it is time to declare America's freedom from racial inequality!
This offers sooooo much thoughtful perspective on this day, our flawed founders and how we are challenged to live and advocate two and a half centuries later. Thank you, thank you for the truth, the hope and the challenge. I just sent it to my family members.
And so, we wait.
Wishing you a peaceful day with those you love most.