What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read Address Frederick Douglass And The Lingering Relevance Of His ‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth of July?’ Speech "What, to the American For freed blacks and slaves, the fourth of July is not a day of independence; rather, it is a day that highlights the hypocrisy, injustices, and cruelty of a nation that claims that “all men are created equal.” On Monday, July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech to the “ Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, ” which arguably became his most famous public oration. Rather than a celebration of the Independence Day holiday, Douglass asked an obvious, simple and damning question: What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July? Among his.targets is the Fugitive Slave Law, first enacted In 1793, up held as constitutional by the Supreme Court in 1842. and renewed in 1850. At issue-as stipulated In Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution-is how one state can be held responsible to "deliver" a person "held to Service or Labour" that is "due to a party" in another state. In other words, how would "free" states be bound On July 5th, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. What to the American slave is your Fourth of July! 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. Topics Frederick Douglass, July Fourth, Fourth of July, July 4, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?, 1852, slavery, abolitionist, speech, anti-slavery, #noracism, racism, no racism, July 5 1852 Collection opensource Language English Item Size 11.1M What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. The text of Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?” A photograph of Sojourner Truth. A British anti-slavery medallion created by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons some time after 1787. An 1859 illustration by Gilbert William Gaul depicting men in Kansas breaking up a pro-slavery camp. What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? i hat to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" is the title now given to a speech by Frederick Douglass delivered on July 5, 1852, in Corinthian Ha l, Rochester, New York, addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slave What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. . . . I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. Delivered by Frederick Douglass (Source: Black Past )Context: The speech below was given July 5, 1882 in Rochester, New York by Frederick Douglass. Douglass escaped from slavery in Maryland to become a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. This is a long speech that builds to an incredible boil. What to the Slave, is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass Douglass delivered this speech to the Ladies Anti-Slave Society in Rochester, NY on July 5, 1852. Concerning the day our nation celebrates its freedom, he called out the hypocrisy of continuing to tolerate slavery. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation’s history—the very ring---bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny . . . What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech that was a powerful indictment of American slavery and racism. Read the speech as printed within days in his own newspaper. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
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