frederick douglass the meaning of the fourth of july speech

In this famous speech, Douglass says: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. At first … During the 1850s, Frederick Douglass … 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. I must mourn. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. Jefferson's Account | I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. 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. In this film, five descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts of his speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" “America, by its nature, is never quite fulfilling all of those promises.”. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? 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. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. When the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, N.Y., invited Douglass to give a July 4 speech in 1852, Douglass opted to speak on July 5 instead. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. 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 hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? questions at eNotes This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is … ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. Douglass’ speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. And never from my chosen post, Whate'er the peril or the cost, Be driven. Save on the cover price and get a free gift, Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2021 TIME USA, LLC. 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. I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. 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? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? They were great men, too — great enough to give frame to a great age. Frederick Douglass circa 1880. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. The first is ethos, the appeal to the speaker’s own credibility and character. He had it printed immediately after delivering it and then went out on the road and sold it for 50 cents a copy or $6 for a hundred. 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 mastcrs? One person who felt that way was Douglass, the famous abolitionist, who was himself born into slavery. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. With his oratorical appeals, in 1852, Douglass delivered a speech that changed the views of millions over the Fourth of July. MPI / Getty Images “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. — The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. When from their galling chains set free, Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee, And wear the yoke of tyranny Like brutes no more. What, then, remains to be argued? Abridged* Frederick Douglass . More Resources |. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. The speech is perhaps the most widely known of all of Frederick Douglass' writings save his autobiographies. You may rejoice, I must mourn. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. 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. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. 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. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? He’d had a breakdown in the early 1850s, and was having trouble supporting his family. Subscribe for just $29. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery Ñ the great sin and shame of America! “It’s also an election year; the 1852 presidential election was heating up that summer. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. And, on July 5, Frederick Douglass stepped on the stage and asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” “The sunlight that brought life and healing to … 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.”. The former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, gave a speech on July 5, 185,2 in Rochester, NY commemorating the day of independence for the United States. American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, circa 1855. 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. Kindly say, the fredrick douglass s speech the meaning of july fourth for is … O! 1 Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. In it, he loses no respect … Rev. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: God speed the year of jubilee The wide world o'er! Douglass captures the irony that the Fourth of July is a celebration of liberty. They that can, may; I cannot. Douglass was invited to speak during the Fourth of July celebrations. You have 1 free article left. It is often studied in literature classes today. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? July Fourth: Frederick Douglass found hope in our Declaration of Independence. On July 5, 1852, Douglass, a former slave, orator, and writer, delivered a speech during an Independence Day celebration held at Rochester New York’s Corinthian Hall. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. So can we. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. Addressing an audience of about 600 at the newly constructed Corinthian Hall, he started out by acknowledging that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were “brave” and “great” men, and that the way they wanted the Republic to look was in the right spirit. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. 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?”. These are troubled times and the American dream may still be a dream deferred. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. In the oration’s most famous passages, Douglass discussed what it felt like to see such festivities and to know independence was not a given for people like him: What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. You have already declared it. 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 friend Each foe. While we, as Frederick Douglass said in his speech “The Meaning of July Fourth to the Negro”, honor the founders of this country, “for the good they did, and the principles they contended for,” we also must confess that many Americans were willfully left out of it’s proclamations. The message wasn’t 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. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Yea! They were great men, too — great enough to give frame to a great age. one of the people helping him fund-raise to keep the paper alive. That year will come, and freedom's reign, To man his plundered rights again Restore. Is that a question for Republicans? Douglass moved to Rochester in 1847, … Frederick Douglass recites this psalm in order to illustrate the similarity between his own situation—as an African American asked to give a Fourth of July speech to a white audience—and that of the Jewish captives asked to sing “in a strange land.” In the last few years, I’ve been pleased that both sides seem to freely quote my favorite American, the great Frederick Douglass. 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. Do you mean citizens to mock me by … “It’s the birth of American Independence, the birth of a nation, and what the speech is saying is you must destroy first what you created and remake it, or it will be destroyed — and you with it,” says Blight. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? This was considered a catalyst in the … Start page | The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. The time was when such could be done. Douglass’ message — about America struggling to live up to the lofty goals it set for itself at the founding — continues to be relevant, says Blight. For those who feel that way, July 5 may be an easier day to celebrate: on that day in 1827, 4,000 African Americans paraded down Broadway in New York City to celebrate the end of slavery in their state.

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