";s:4:"text";s:20400:"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! we wept when we remembered Zion. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. His own testimony is nothing. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. In this collection, students will review the life of Frederick Douglass and learn about one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" (it is also commonly referred to as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July). You have no right to enjoy a childs share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. He argues that though the international slave trade is correctly decried as abhorrent, the people of the United States are far less vocal in their opposition to domestic slave trade. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. 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. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work The downfall of slavery. [13] Although the import of people directly from Africa had been banned in 1807,[14] the domestic slave trade, still legal, was thriving. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a track of land, in which no mention of land was made? Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old Covenanters would be thrown into the shade. Rhetoricians R. L. Heath and D. Waymer refer to this as the "paradox of the positive" because it highlights how something positive and meant to be positive can also exclude individuals. 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. 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. be warned! Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 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 business, if I have any here to-day, is with the present. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. 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. Yea! Advertisement for the pamphlet of Douglass' speech from the July 12, 1852 edition of Frederick Douglass' Paper (formerly The North Star), Douglass begins by saying that the fathers of the nation were great statesmen, and that the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence were "saving principles", and the "ringbolt of your nation's destiny", stating, "stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost." 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. Douglass then returns to the topic of the founding of the United States. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. [11] Additionally, he had spoken there less than three months prior to this speech, on March 25. Because the church stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and buying of people, so did the rest of the country. 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.. Is slavery among them? To honor Black History Month, as an introduction or review of rhetorical appeals and devices, or as a speech exemplar, this Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" rhetoric activity is a fabulous addition to any lesson. The country can progress like it has before, transforming from being a colony of a far-away king to an independent nation. In his speech, "The Hypocrisy of American Slavery . By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated, Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin. After this, he turns his attention to the church. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Wells, which was incorporated into the preface of her 1892 pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. 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 equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. PDF. One of the biggest challenges we face in our present moment is building sustainable movements that fundamentally change peoples minds about race and racism. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. by Frederick Douglass 1852 11th Grade Lexile: 1140 Font Size Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American social reformer, orator, and writer. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? You may rejoice, I must mourn. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.Fellow-citizens! weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Follow the drove to New Orleans. On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. 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? Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglass's life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Douglass also stresses the view that slaves and free Americans are equal in nature. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. To find out what elements make the speech 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?' I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cuminabridge the fight to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. By that act, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Panel on dispossession of African Americans says burying truth keeps Black Americans dispossessed, Legal scholar and historian puts the push to remove Confederate statues in context, Members of the community share memories, plans, hopes for the holiday, Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. 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