Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His 4th of July Speech
- NPR, In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide protests for racial justice and systemic reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s death. That June, we asked 5 young descendants of Frederick Douglass to read and respond to excerpts of his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? given on July 5, 1852.” It's a powerful, historical text that reminds us of the ongoing work of liberation. July 3, 2020.
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/03/884832594/video-frederick-douglass-descendants-read-his-fourth-of-july-speech
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- PBS. On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall. It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?" Within the now-famous address is what historian Philip S. Foner has called "probably the most moving passage in all of Douglass' speeches."
- 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. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, 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. 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. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927.html
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It's a remarkable piece given he was born just over 25 years after the ratification of the Constitution.
It was nice to see some of his young descendants do this project because they can really see how some things really haven't changed, yet other things have actually changed, with the caveat that we still have a long way to go to keep any positive change stable (which is probably what Douglass figured in any case).
Douglass did live to see the Civil War come and go and slaves freed, but then he also witnessed how what lead to a "reconstruction" of a nation where previously marginalized people could finally freely participate, eventually get torn asunder just before he died. In essence he saw what would become a "Wash. Rinse. Repeat." type of oppressive cycle brought on by those who were unwilling to give up their perceived power, and vowed to take it back.
Thanks for posting! 
