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. 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. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? But all to manhoods stature tower, According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. 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 the great sin and shame of America! Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. 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. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. Hed had a breakdown in the early 1850s, and was having trouble supporting his family. They are not part of the original. I am not that man. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? 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. What are these? What is his opinion of the American Founders? 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. 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. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. Frederick Douglass, America's most famous anti-slavery activist and fugitive slave, saw no ground to celebrate: he saw the octopus arms of slavery stretched everywhere, exposing the hollowness. 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. The audience of Douglass' message were abolitionists, who were white people from the north who did not own slaves and wanted to abolish slavery. Frederick Douglass's 4th of July speech still burns with his spirit Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. What was Douglass's purpose in writing his Narrative of the Life of 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. Uncle Toms Cabin had just been published that spring and was taking the country by storm. What are some of Frederick Douglass's most famous writings and speeches The political party system was beginning to tear itself asunder over the expansion of slavery, he says. The country was in the midst of crises over fugitive slave rescues in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The people who came to America were surprised by its history. And each return for evil, good, Both critiques seek true fidelity to those principles we fail to keep. The purpose of Douglass' message was to inform abolitions of the inhumane treatment of slaves and to continue making progress in freeing slaves. Everyone is welcome to read; this event is free and open to the public. Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) Somehow I often find myself reading this paragraph and Im always struck by its prescience. When none on earth This year we mark both the 400th anniversary of the arrival of captive Africans to the British colonies and the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth. One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. He does some of his greatest writing in early 1850s during this terrible personal crisis, Blight says, and right there in the middle of it comes the greatest speech hes ever delivered, of the hundreds of speeches he delivered in his life.. Two years before Douglass' famed speech, the U.S. government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required runaway slaves to be returned to their owners. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? what is the main message of douglass's speech? At the time Douglass spoke, Blight says, the opportunity was ripe for a lecture on the moral crisis. Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July speech, then and now: A Q&A with Douglass praises and respects the signers of the Declaration of Independence, people who put the interests of a country above their own. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital The wide world oer It gave me such a surge of hope that the event could bring together such divergent groups. Frederick Douglas's Speech In What To The Slave Is The | Bartleby The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th of July oration. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Douglass states, "My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. 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! In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. 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.. Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. How does he show that everyone in America, North and South, views enslaved Africans as human beings. Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. His speeches continued to agitate for racial equality and women's rights. In Douglass's case, he was in a room with people who supported the ending of slavery. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. 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. Why Frederick Douglass Matters - History American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, circa 1855. You may rejoice, I must mourn. Douglass made the speech nearly a decade before the American Civil War, a conflict that ultimately led to the adoption of the 13th amendment, which ended slavery. Why do you think he does so? Your republican politics are flagrantly inconsistent. An edited version of Douglasss speech is provided below. No! Frederick Douglass, Americas most famous anti-slavery activist and fugitive slave, saw no ground to celebrate: he saw the octopus arms of slavery stretched everywhere, exposing the hollowness of Americas freedom values. You have reached your limit of free articles. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? It was one of five autobiographies he penned,. Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? I will not. Restore. . 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. We may finally be thinking about creating a commission to study the possibility of reparationsas with all deliberate speed, the American way of tackling a problem takes so much time and patienceand for this we can be thankful. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress as part of this compromise was bitterly resented by the Northern states. In doing so he sets the stage to distinguish the holiday for his audience and establishes the gulf between those in his audience and those who remain in bondage. What is their most significant accomplishment? All rights reserved. Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800's who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely . Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. We convened a group of interested parties, met a few times over a couple of months, and decided to launch an event on the Common. 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. Douglass repeatedly uses the pronouns you and your (rather than our and ours) throughout this section. Fredrick Douglas Flashcards | Quizlet Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God." 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! The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. 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. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? 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. The main message of Douglass's speech is that it is hypocritical to celebrate the Fourth of July as a day of freedom and independence while slaves are not independent nor do they have freedom. The Nativist party is rising. Yea! Behind the Speech: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? | Time Funny you should ask. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Keidrick Roy, the host of the virtual reading event. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. 838 Words. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. Shall cease to flow! Understanding contradictions such as this is critical for honest conversation. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Go forth. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? | Similar Answers On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. Frederick Douglass, "What the Black Man Wants" Its relevance endures today. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Frederick Douglass (18181895) was a former slave who became a nationally recognizedabolitionist orator during the antebellum period. Harvard Law Today recently interviewed David Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, the events cosponsor, about the public reading and the continued relevance of Douglass words. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks. Last year, Singapore's GDP grew 3.6%. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! That first year, 2009, was also President Obamas first year in office. Do you think that section has any lessons for us today? Summary Of Frederick Douglass Speech To Celebrate The - StudyMode The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work The downfall of slavery. Douglass continued to add to the speech in the years that followed. We have a precise date for that first, momentous vote, which set the pattern of exclusion with which we still live, but no such precision marks the arrival of 50 captive Africans sometime in August, 1619. -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? This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. America has been working to fully live up to the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence ever since the document was printed on July 4, 1776. My subject, then fellow citizens, says Douglass, is American slavery. He brings that subject to life in vivid and sometimes horrifying terms, Standing, as he says, with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion. The effect is undeniable and its implications inescapable: the contradiction between the celebration and the bondage it masks demands action. Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. Frederick Douglass Museum in Rochester NY: Fundraising underway However, this was not the purpose of Douglass's speech. 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.. I generally try to avoid speculating about current or historical figures I dont know. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. And the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures, too. The fight for independence was a long, hard battle. I hold that every American citizen has a fight to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. 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? Not least since the racism that made slavery endures. What was the purpose of Frederick Douglass's slave narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave? Frederick Douglass: Speeches & Writings | Library of America 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. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. In every clime be understood, I have better employments for my time and strength. Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, is inhuman mockery. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped "To palter with us in a double sense: And keep the word of promise to the ear, But break it to the heart.". Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. 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.. Douglass's purpose in writing his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was to provide a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery and thereby support the. In the second part of the speech, Douglass turns to the present and his own feelings about the 4th of July celebration. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. In the late 1840s and into the 1850s, his finances were tight, and he was struggling to sustain the newspaper he founded, The North Star. They that can, may; I cannot. "So don't get in our way because if you do, we're going to stand up, we're going to organize and we're going to speak up and . The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. 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. 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. ROY: The better we get to know the people that we live with, that we work around, that we see at the coffee shop, and the more we talk about these important racial issues with one another, the easier it will be to heal our divided communities. I attended in 2008 and was deeply moved by the experience. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
