Magazines, Digital I recall seeing a group of young blonde-haired children standing at the wall overlooking the reading as a group of late adolescents and young men sat on the adjacent steps on a lunch break from their work with YouthBuild. What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Read its preamble, consider its purposes. With them, nothing was "settled" that was not right. He would use the Fourth of July for its irony over and over and over, just like the Declaration of Independence is used to remind the country of its potential and promise, and to him, race was always the measure of that, he says. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the 'lame man leap as an hart. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? AN summary of Themes in Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Lived of Frederick Douglass. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. O! Until that year, day, hour, arrive,With head, and heart, and hand Ill strive,To break the rod, and rend the gyve,The spoiler of his prey deprive So witness Heaven!And never from my chosen post,Whateer the peril or the cost. is the popular name of a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on the Fifth of July 1852 in Rochester, N.Y.. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? And the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures, too. God speed the hour, the glorious hour,When none on earthShall exercise a lordly power,Nor in a tyrants presence cower;But all to manhoods stature tower,By equal birth!That hour will come, to each, to all,And from his prison-house, the thrallGo forth. These rules are well established. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. More than 150 years later, Keidrick Roy, a doctoral student in American Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a U.S. Air Force veteran, will host a virtual community reading and discussion of the storied speech at the Somerville Museum on Thursday as part of the annual state-wide MassHumanities program Reading Frederick Douglass Together.. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. It was a turbulent time for Douglass personally, too. Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. Why does he do this? Douglass' speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. 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. Based on what I know of his writings, however, I think he would have very mixed feelings about the progress we have made. Why Frederick Douglass' famous 1852 anti-slavery speech is still read and still resonates in 2017. At the time Douglass spoke, Blight says, the opportunity was ripe for a lecture on the moral crisis. Do you think that section has any lessons for us today? 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. ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. Formerly . Is that a question for Republicans? And from his prison-house, the thrall -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? Harvard Law Today: Can you tell me a little bit about Douglass speech? Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. In the early 2000s Community Change started a tradition of reading the Douglass speech in its library. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. ", Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. "Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved. Our ability to communicate has led to much greater organizing and mobilization. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! Is it at the gateway? Yea! Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. 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. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. There is blasphemy in the thought. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. 838 Words. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. President Lincoln did issue the Emancipation Proclamation six months later but even after the wars end, Douglass continued to use the Fifth of July to draw attention to the nations track record on the idea celebrated on the Fourth. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. At the same time, we need to be studying the history of slavery and racism in this country so we can build policies, practices, and procedures that address the present problems with those historical inequities in mind. Its relevance endures today. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The time for such argument is passed. How does he show that everyone in America, North and South, views enslaved Africans as human beings. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Why do you think he does so? The message wasnt new Douglass promoted those ideas year-round but Blight says he knew the Fourth of July was a good hook, and expected the speech to be a hit. They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. That point is conceded already. Funny you should ask. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. Cling to this daycling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. Open Document. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Go forth. Identify these elements. Frederick Douglass (18181895) was a former slave who became a nationally recognizedabolitionist orator during the antebellum period. In every clime be understood, The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. Although it has also facilitated the spread of hateful ideas and untruths, I suspect Douglass, who understood perhaps better than anyone in the 19th century the power of images, would have reveled in our ability to capture and convey video of events. Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. But its quite another to change the way you see yourself and to grow into a person deeply committed to long-term interracial coalition building. Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? or is it in the temple? The manhood of the slave is conceded. Had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. Overseers announce new president, vice chair. Presenting ideas in. You may well cherish the memory of such men. So witness Heaven! For decades, slaves fled the South . "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. As I mentioned earlier, the first reading was designed to the think about race in the Age of Obama. I remember that first year, looking out at the crowd I was filled with the kind of hope Douglass expressed at the end of his speech. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. And each return for evil, good, Above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. Given all that he has said in his speech, why does Douglass conclude on an optimistic note for black Americans. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. What did he say and in what context? On the 2nd of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea [i.e., the idea of total separation of the colonies from the crown] with all the authority of national sanction. Who can reason on such a proposition? Read each part and answer the questions at the end of that part. Why does he call his own time degenerate? In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart." The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. 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. For more information on other communal readings scheduled throughout the state, visit MassHumanities.org. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy continues to recover. Across the country, people were thinking and arguing about slavery, abolitionism, and the future of the nation. They that can, may; I cannot. "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder," he said. I generally try to avoid speculating about current or historical figures I dont know. They are not part of the original. Nobody doubts it. In Douglass' speech, his tone mainly appeals to emotions. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. Magazines, 4,000 African Americans paraded down Broadway in New York City, Or create a free account to access more articles, 'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? If youre not a person of color, its one thing to go to a couple of events or protests, or to read a few articles and move on. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. No! The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? I will not. Americans! See answers Advertisement bhawsarsakshi4 Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? On July 2nd, people from across Massachusetts will gather at noon on Boston Common near the State House for the 11th annual public reading of Douglasss historic address. What is his opinion of the American Founders? Yale historian David Blight analyzes Douglass's speech and discusses its historical context in an episode ofthe podcastBackStory with the American History Guys (scroll down to the episode "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"). On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. 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. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. Noting the rapid changes in transportation and communication he insists that Space is comparatively annihilated. How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? Although the . For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. You may well cherish the memory of such men. 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. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? God speed the day when human bloodShall cease to flow!In every clime be understood,The claims of human brotherhood,And each return for evil, good,Not blow for blow;That day will come all feuds to end.And change into a faithful friendEach foe. Douglass uses religious language in discussing Independence. The purpose of the event was to celebrate America's signing of the Declaration of Independence, 76 years before. The Boston communal reading of What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? will take place on Tuesday, July 2 at noon on the Boston Common at the State House, Shaw-MA 54th Memorial. We were all giddy with the reality of a black president who had been willing to talk about race during the campaign. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. This year is pretty challenging in the wake of COVID-19, and the event is going to be held online instead of before a live audience like we did last year. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. 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?. Host called senior colleague a C-word in text message obtained by lawyers as part of Dominion lawsuit Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News came after he used vulgar language to describe a . Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital However, this was not the purpose of Douglass's speech. Convicted terrorists will be banned from taking a leading role in religious services and face more rigorous checks for extremist literature. He wrote a glowing letter of encouragement to Harriet Tubman, which served as the preface to Sarah Bradfords 1869 biography about Tubmans life. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it.
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