Frederick Douglass's 4th of July speech still burns with his spirit God speed the day when human blood But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. SOURCE FORMAT: Public speech (excerpt) WORD COUNT: 1,660 words Excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "Fifth of July" Speech (1852). I am not that man. What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? For example, acknowledging all of the darker sides of our history makes it easier to understand why and how Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem is actually an expression of the same kind of patriotism Douglass demonstrates in his critique of the United States. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. Convicted terrorists will be banned from taking a leading role in religious services and face more rigorous checks for extremist literature. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. We convened a group of interested parties, met a few times over a couple of months, and decided to launch an event on the Common. The purpose of the event was to celebrate America's signing of the Declaration of Independence, 76 years before. Why Frederick Douglass Is Important? - FAQS Clear In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart." 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. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Nor in a tyrants presence cower; 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. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Magazines, Digital The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. 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. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The audience of Douglass' message were abolitionists, who were white people from the north who did not own slaves and wanted to abolish slavery. Be warned! If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. The time was when such could be done. 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. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. 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. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. To man his plundered fights again I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. What is his opinion of the American Founders? 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. Cling to this daycling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. And each return for evil, good, What was Douglass's purpose in writing his Narrative of the Life of 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. Be driven. What are some of Frederick Douglass's most famous writings and speeches These rules are well established. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth. Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. His friend Julia Griffith, the treasurer of the Rochester group that invited him to give the 1852 speech, was one of the people helping him fund-raise to keep the paper alive. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Uncle Toms Cabin had just been published that spring and was taking the country by storm. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave" - Lesson Plan | Learning to Another remarkable thing about Douglass is that he was an early champion of voting rights for women. My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! 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. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 11th annual public reading of What to the slave is the Fourth of July? takes place on July 2nd at noon on Boston Common, Photo via the Harvard Gazette David Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work The downfall of slavery. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. (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. Frederick Douglass, Americas 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 of Americas freedom values. It is actually quite longwe use an abridged version for our readingsbut despite its length it is at once riveting and concise. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. 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. They are not part of the original. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? Presenting ideas in. Why do you think he does so? That year will come, and freedoms reign, Quick Answer: What Is The Purpose Of Frederick Douglass Speech 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? They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense, and your Christianity as a lie. One person who felt that way was Douglass, the famous abolitionist, who was himself born into slavery. And never from my chosen post, Given all that he has said in his speech, why does Douglass conclude on an optimistic note for black Americans. 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. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to many others if they knew about it. In February, Mock announced that the FDFI would undertake the effort to launch the Frederick Douglass Museum Center in a building they are purchasing at 140 East Main St. in Rochester. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. 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. Its also an election year; the 1852 presidential election was heating up that summer. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Rhetorical Analysis Of Frederick Douglass Speech Keidrick Roy, the host of the virtual reading event. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. David Harris: Douglass was known for his oratory and this speech is no exception. Inches "What to the Slave Can the Fourth of July?" Frederick Duplex seeking not only to persuades my of the wrongfulness starting slavery but also to make abolition find acceptable for Northern whites. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? We have a precise date for that first, momentous vote, which set the pattern of exclusion with which we still live, but no such precision marks the arrival of 50 captive Africans sometime in August, 1619. The new rules are part of a government plan to crack . For more information on other communal readings scheduled throughout the state, visit MassHumanities.org. Why does Douglass appeal to the Constitution in the last section of the speech? 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. 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. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. To break the rod, and rend the gyve, 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. They were great in their day and generation. 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. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. Douglass' speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. Oppression makes a wise man mad. Douglass printed the speech in his newspaper, Frederick Douglass' Paper, and published 700 copies of it in pamphlet form. An edited version of Douglasss speech is provided below. When none on earth 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?. -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? Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? ", Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view," (52-54). I repeat, I am glad this is so. Each foe. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? As with rivers so with nations. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. What are these? That day will come all feuds to end. Frederick Douglass Speech On The Fourth Of July Revisited In - NPR 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.". A black-and-white photograph of Frederick Douglass wearing a jacket, waistcoat, and bowtie. 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. It is, he declares, the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.. 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.. The country was in the midst of crises over fugitive slave rescues in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Our ability to communicate has led to much greater organizing and mobilization. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! Formerly . "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. 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. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. And the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures, too. 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. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. In the early 2000s Community Change started a tradition of reading the Douglass speech in its library. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 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. Douglass repeatedly uses the pronouns you and your (rather than our and ours) throughout this section. I have better employments for my time and strength. 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. 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. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake., Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. 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 may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. 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. Wells, which was incorporated into the preface of her 1892 pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.. How unlike the politicians of an hour! Obviously, the speech has taken a much darker meaning in the Age of [President Donald] Trump. On this, the bicentennial year of Douglasss birth, the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and American Universitys Antiracist Research and Policy Center are honoring 200 Americans whose work best reflects his legacy. 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? Without this fight, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. 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. It was a scathing speech in which Douglass stated, This Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn., In his speech, Douglassacknowledgedthe Founding Fathers of America, the architects of the Declaration of Independence, for their commitment to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness:, Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. And change into a faithful friend 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. Across the country, people were thinking and arguing about slavery, abolitionism, and the future of the nation. To what other elements in the American political tradition does he appeal? What was the purpose of Frederick Douglass's slave narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave? I will not. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. 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 all to manhoods stature tower, Douglass' 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, described his time as an enslaved worker in Maryland. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. 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. In this speech, he called out the "hypocrisy of the nation" (Douglass), questioning the nation's . There is consolation in the thought that America is young. At the time Douglass spoke, Blight says, the opportunity was ripe for a lecture on the moral crisis. This year we mark both the 400th anniversary of the arrival of captive Africans to the British colonies and the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The Nativist party is rising. What feelings is he appealing to in his audience in this section? From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. 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 people who came to America were surprised by its history. What, then, remains to be argued? What will this years event be like? Douglass uses religious language in discussing Independence. Understanding contradictions such as this is critical for honest conversation. His message was well-received because they believed in what he was standing up for. 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. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Read each part and answer the questions at the end of that part. Is slavery among them? A champion of America's great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation's history and culture. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." Do you think Douglass would be surprised to learn that Americans are reciting his words nearly 170 years later? "We need the. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. 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. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Why Frederick Douglass Wanted Black Men to Fight in the Civil War - History One of his famous speeches, called "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," was given on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, at an event in the Corinthian Hall. Fellow-citizens! 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. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July speech, then and now: A Q&A with Americans! 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. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. 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.