They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! 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. "Meaning of the Fourth of July to a Negro" by Bridget Durham The Fourth of July is a day of celebration for many Americans because on July 4th, 1776, America declared independence from Britain and said that everyone was free under the US government, right? I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument.Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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. True Christians, according to Douglass, should not stand idly by while the rights and liberty of others are stripped away. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglass sought not only to convince people of the wrongfulness of slavery but also to make abolition more acceptable to Northern whites. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Many of its most eloquent Divines. 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.Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? The time for such argument is passed.At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. It is neither. Stauffer, John. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. Ossie DavisA Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. [20]:346 To prove evidence of these inconsistencies, as one historian noted, during the speech Douglass claims that the United States Constitution is an abolitionist document and not a pro-slavery document.[22][23][24]. 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. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. The United States does not have to stay the way it is. [3] In the address, Douglass states that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because they lacked those rights. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Without this fight, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery. 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. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? . 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! You glory in your refinement and your universal education yet you maintain a system as barbarous and dreadful as ever stained the character of a nationa system begun in avarice, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. 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? That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! [4], The speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act had passed Congress as part of the broader Compromise of 1850. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. The inaugural meeting between six women took place in Corinthian Hall on August 20. The speech has been notably performed or read by important figures, including the following: The paragraphing referenced here is taken from an edition of the speech at, African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History, by Eric Freedman and Stephen A, Jones, 2008, p. 39, "Activist Public Relations and the Paradox of the Positive: A Case Study of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address", "One of American History's Worst Laws Was Passed 165 Years Ago", "The Operation of the Fugitive Slave Law in Western Pennsylvania from 1850 to 1860", The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings & Supreme Court Opinions, Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Civil War: Selections from His Writings, "Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Down On Anniversary Of Famous Speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester, N.Y., on anniversary of his famous Fourth of July speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down on anniversary of great speech", "VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech", A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass's Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth of July' Speech, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F&oldid=1137650578. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. Americans! You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Yea! He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating . Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, By Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite Harvard Staff Writer, 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. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed.In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. Where these are, man is not sacred. On July 5, 1852, in . It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? Douglass says that if the residents of America believe that slaves are "men",[20]:342 they should be treated as such. [17] This act drew the ire of the abolitionist movement,[9] and was directly criticized by Douglass in his speech. [6] Due to this and the variant titles given to it in various places, and the fact that it is called a July Fourth Oration but was actually delivered on July 5, some confusion has arisen about the date and contents of the speech. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.Fellow-citizens! He wrote a glowing letter of encouragement to Harriet Tubman, which served as the preface to Sarah Bradfords 1869 biography about Tubmans life. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. Is it at the gateway? Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Text Frederick Douglass, " What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. You know what is a swine-drover? The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. During the Civil War, Douglass said that since Massachusetts had been the first state to join the Patriot cause during the American Revolutionary War, black men should go to Massachusetts to enlist in the Union Army. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. we wept when we remembered Zion. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. Kate Harris Date Published September 28, 2016 Last Modified November 14, 2021 Description. On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The speech 'What to the Slaves is the Fourth of July' projected the American Day of Independence from a slave's point of view and brought to light the horrific experiences of slavery. Products. I will show you a man-drover. Douglass details the hardships past Americans once endured when they were members of British colonies and validates their feelings of ill treatment. It is not that pure and undefiled religion which is from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. Douglass, Frederick, ed. 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. You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. The occasion was the Society's Fourth of July celebration, but Douglass refused to give the speech on July 4; he would not celebrate the holiday so long as African Americans remained enslaved. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, NY, on July. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.What, then, remains to be argued? I repeat, I am glad this is so. (3) $3.99. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. ts future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorr. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. [8] Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in order to publish his newspaper The North Star. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. or is it in the temple? 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