The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. In the second part of the speech, Douglass turns to the present and his own feelings about the 4th of July celebration. This speech is now remembered as oneof Douglass' most poignant. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. Shall cease to flow! (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. Within twenty years Douglass was the one of the most famous men in the United Statesauthor of two widely read memoirs and an orator who commanded among the highest speaking fees in the nation. Many historians consider this effort to be Douglass's finest oration, and arguably one of the most powerful American political speeches ever written. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. 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 Compromise of 1850 had failed to resolve the controversy over the admission of new slaveholding states to the Union. Would you argue more, and denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." Alison Drasner, the project coordinator for the Somerville Museum, teamed up with Dave Ortega at the Somerville Media Center to prerecord voices of 50 Somerville residents, including my 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, to read sections of the speech. Each foe. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to many others if they knew about it. He follows this observation by closing with words from William Lloyd Garrison, suggesting the new reach of the great abolitionist across the ocean as part of a global abolition movement. The report is remembered for its conclusion that: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.. I think he would look at the ongoing gulf between our ideals and reality and might refer back to some of his own analysis to understand the current contradictions. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! or is it in the temple? See answers Advertisement bhawsarsakshi4 It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. 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. 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. 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. This power fuels modern abolition movements, whether of human trafficking, prison or police. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. You may well cherish the memory of such men. We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term. And never from my chosen post, Do you think Douglass would be surprised to learn that Americans are reciting his words nearly 170 years later? Cambridge, MA 02138, 2022 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, International Legal Studies & Opportunities, Syllabi, Exam and Course Evaluation Archive, Sign Up for the Harvard Law Today Newsletter, Consumer Information (ABA Required Disclosures). But, he said, speaking more than a decade before slavery was ended nationally, a lot of work still needed to be done so that all citizens can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Above your national, tumultuous joy the July 4th celebrations of white Americans were the mournful wails of millions whose heavy chains are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.. And it also imposed severe penalties on anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely . They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. In 1881, Douglass published his third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, which took a long view of his life's work, the nation's progress, and the work left to do. Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. The Nativist party is rising. Douglass' speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Douglass speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Given all that he has said in his speech, why does Douglass conclude on an optimistic note for black Americans. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. The time for such argument is passed. 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. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Douglass' 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, described his time as an enslaved worker in Maryland. ROY: The event that were doing in Somerville puts pressure on whitewashed conceptions of the Fourth of July, as many people to this day still view it as a celebration of American food, fireworks, and freedom. 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 also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Mark them! 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. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. 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.. Identify these elements. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. 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? 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. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. Whateer the peril or the cost, What, then, remains to be argued? That day will come all feuds to end. They are not part of the original. Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. Writing before slaves were freed in the United States, Douglass' main objective in the Narrative is to dispel any notion that slavery is good for those enslaved. 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. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? ROY: Douglass wrote the speech in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which effectively extended the reach of slave power in the South throughout the rest of the country. 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? It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. Crowd of men and women during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., Aug.28, 1963, Get the latest information about timed passes and tips for planning your visit, Search the collection and explore our exhibitions, centers, and digital initiatives, Online resources for educators, students, and families, Engage with us and support the Museum from wherever you are, Find our upcoming and past public and educational programs, Learn more about the Museum and view recent news, National Archives and Records Administration, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 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. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. 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? Well, we have all come to understand that while on its face this amendment appeared to outlaw forever slavery and involuntary servitude, its exception for those serving a punishment for crime left open the door for what Douglas Blackmon has called Slavery by Another Name and Ana DuVernays so painfully rendered film, 13th, revealed as continued oppression in the 21st century. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. Restore. The Act also denied suspected slaves trial by jury or even the ability to testify on their own behalf in court. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. 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 hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. As with any great oration, Douglass builds to his point, which is to distinguish between the spirit of celebration typically surrounding the holiday and the misery suffered by enslaved people on that day and every day. ', But such is not the state of the case. You may rejoice, I must mourn. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. What feelings is he appealing to in his audience in this section? Many of you understand them better than I do. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. 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. [Throughout the speech] Douglass looks at the contradictions between the reality of slavery and the lofty claims of a just society outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. For more information on this event visit CharlesHamiltonHouston.org. I attended in 2008 and was deeply moved by the experience. 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?. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final;" not slavery and oppression. Douglass's voluminous writings and speeches reveal a man who believed fiercely in the ideals on which America was founded, but understoodwith the scars to prove itthat democracy would . On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? 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?
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