Pulitzer-winning Frederick Douglass biographer David Blight explains what to know about the famous speech, and why its message still endures This means that Douglass was only thirty-four years old when he delivered one of the greatest political speeches in American history. It was July 5, 1852. 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 This means that Douglass was only thirty-four years old when he delivered one of the greatest political speeches in American history. It was July 5, 1852. Speech given by Frederick Douglass on the 4th July 1852. Douglass criticises the Fourth of July Celebrations because the ideals of the American Revolution – freedom, equality, dignitiy and pursuit of happiness were denied to African Americans. Douglass captures the irony that the Fourth of July is a celebration of liberty. 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. Part One: A Fourth of July Oration This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your In 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his speech “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” on July 5 at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Rochester, New York. Douglass’ words resonate today. In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech titled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” a call for the promise of liberty be applied equally to all Americans. Frederick Douglass was born an enslaved person in Maryland, later escaping into freedom and emerging as one of the leading abolitionist voices in the nineteenth century. In June 1852, he delivered this Independence Day address to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. It became one of Douglass’s most famous speeches—criticizing the chasm between America’s Founding principles and This page is currently being worked on. Please check back later. NPS Home “What to the Slave Is the Fourth July?” by Frederick Douglass is not only a brilliant work of oratory. It speaks to our every frustration spurred by the gap between the ideals of the United The speech’s themes of hypocrisy, injustice, and the pursuit of true liberty resonate even today, making it a powerful text for understanding and addressing ongoing issues of racial inequality. In July 1776, Black people were not free, so in the words of Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Within the now-famous address is what historian Philip S. Foner has called "probably the most moving passage in all of Douglass' speeches." What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Douglass delivered this speech before a crowd in Rochester, NY on July 5, 1852. The poem at the end was written by famed abolitionist and colleague William Lloyd Garrison, and published on March 17, 1845 in the Signal of Liberty an anti-slavery newspaper. On Saturday (July 5), Grafton, Massachusetts is hosting a public reading of Douglass’ speech to preserve the history and importance of the abolitionist’s words, per the Milford Daily News. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. It became one of Douglass’s most famous speeches—criticizing the chasm between America’s Founding principles and the institution of slavery. In the speech, Douglass lamented that Independence Day wasn’t a day of celebration for enslaved people. On July 5, 1852, abolitionist and ex-slave Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester, New York's Corinthian Hall. It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." Frederick Douglass was a fiery orator and his speeches were often published in various abolitionist newspapers. Among his well-known speeches is "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," presented in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, a version of which he published as a booklet. It is often studied in literature classes today. Douglass moved to Rochester in 1847, when he became the Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and became a leading abolitionist in the Antebellum era. One of his most famous speeches was made to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society for Independence Day (Fourth of July) in 1852. Here, Douglass criticized the divide between the Founding ideas of liberty and the institution of slavery.
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