what is the main message of douglass's speech?

Shall cease to flow! 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. "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder," he said. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. A small group would gather in a circle and take turns reading paragraphs from the speech. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. In the orations 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? Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. David Harris: Douglass was known for his oratory and this speech is no exception. The Nativist party is rising. Identify these elements. . Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. In this speech, he called out the "hypocrisy of the nation" (Douglass), questioning the nation's . 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. 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. 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. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Shall exercise a lordly power, I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. I said then and throughout his presidency that rather than freeing us from talking about race, his election freed us to talk about it; and we entitled that first event: Reading Frederick Douglass in the Age of Obama.. That point is conceded already. It is, he declares, the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. or is it in the temple? Read the address in full onPBS. Our ability to communicate has led to much greater organizing and mobilization. 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. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? What is their most significant accomplishment? As with rivers so with nations. Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. For example, acknowledging all of the darker sides of our history makes it easier to understand why and how Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem is actually an expression of the same kind of patriotism Douglass demonstrates in his critique of the United States. In Douglass' speech, his tone mainly appeals to emotions. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Hard-hit sectors are recovering rapidly - tourism and hospitality establishments are back in business. In the early 2000s Community Change started a tradition of reading the Douglass speech in its library. The report is remembered for its conclusion that: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? That assembly, which represented property-owning men, took place on July 30, 1619. 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? On top of his federal work, Douglass kept a vigorous speaking tour schedule. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. What will this years event be like? This Fourth July is yours, not mine. To break the rod, and rend the gyve, Overseers announce new president, vice chair. THAT HOUR WILL, COME, to each, to all, What an understanding of the future this shows, although we know it is not all for the better. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Next, Douglass presents a picture of American slavery. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. But for me, the hope is in the very fact of gathering, of reading the speech in community, renewing the bonds with others who share a determination to change, and committing to act accordingly. This is a particularly difficult time for any such return, given the lack of civility and acceptance of intolerance that characterize our public discourse starting with the president. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. You have already declared it. 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. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to many others if they knew about it. How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? 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? One of his famous speeches, called "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," was given on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, at an event in the Corinthian Hall. And it also imposed severe penalties on anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. Americans! His speeches continued to agitate for racial equality and women's rights. Obviously, the speech has taken a much darker meaning in the Age of [President Donald] Trump. Whateer the peril or the cost, In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: God speed the year of jubilee May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. With them, nothing was "settled" that was not right. 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. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. For decades, slaves fled the South . 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. In some ways, the first part of the speech is a traditional patriotic speech. Douglass continues to interrogate the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, to enslaved African Americans experiencinggrave inequality and injustice: Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? Oh! I am not that man. Both critiques seek true fidelity to those principles we fail to keep. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. (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. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. It is actually quite longwe use an abridged version for our readingsbut despite its length it is at once riveting and concise. 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. 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. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. I doubt even Douglass could have anticipated the technology we have or its uses. What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Douglass uses religious language in discussing Independence. "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; 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. This power fuels modern abolition movements, whether of human trafficking, prison or police. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The Act also denied suspected slaves trial by jury or even the ability to testify on their own behalf in court. I have been thinking a lot about these two and have discovered that it is also the 400th anniversary of the first instance of representative government in Jamestown. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. What characteristics does he praise about them? Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. The political party system was beginning to tear itself asunder over the expansion of slavery, he says. Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. Magazines, Digital 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. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. 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? Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvardnews. By equal birth! But such is not the state of the case. speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense, and your Christianity as a lie. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." 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. 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. 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. I generally try to avoid speculating about current or historical figures I dont know. The speech was originally delivered at a moment when the country was fiercely locked in debate over the question of slavery, but theres a reason why it has remained famous more than 150 years after emancipation, says David Blight, author of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. It seems that every year we have marked some anniversary with the reading, whether civil rights movement or Civil War related. Cling to this daycling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. Formerly . Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. 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. 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). She can speak not only to Douglass' historical importance but to the urgency and relevancy of his message in today's . 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 fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. Based on what I know of his writings, however, I think he would have very mixed feelings about the progress we have made. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other.. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital What are these? 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? Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. This speech is now remembered as oneof Douglass' most poignant. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake., Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter. To what other elements in the American political tradition does he appeal? On the Fourth of July, 1852, America celebrated its freedom, as it does every Independence Day. Many of you understand them better than I do. Although primarily remembered for pointing out the hypocrisy of Independence Day in a nation that condoned the enslavement of millions of people, the speech also includes an interesting passage on the impact of globalization. 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, Meredith Max Hodges and Geraldine Acua-Sunshine to assume leadership roles for 2023-24, We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term., Happiness is not a destination Happiness is the way, Expanding our understanding of gut feelings, Gen Z, millennials need to be prepared to fight for change, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Rewriting history to include all of it this time. He begins his speech by modestly apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd and recognizes that he has come a long way since his escape from slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view," (52-54). So witness Heaven! What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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? Fellow-citizens! Go forth. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. Everyone is welcome to read; this event is free and open to the public. The country was in the midst of crises over fugitive slave rescues in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. Read by Ava Yuninger, Music by Ava Yuninger 00:00 00:00 To man his plundered fights again What is the significance of the image of the reptile in the bosom on the nation at the end of this section? This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. Space is comparatively annihilated. They that can, may; I cannot. The wet plate ambrotype plates are housed in a folding leather case with tooled gilt oval mat. Harvard Law School provides unparalleled opportunities to study law with extraordinary colleagues in a rigorous, vibrant, and collaborative environment. I attended in 2008 and was deeply moved by the experience. When from their galling chains set free, You may rejoice, I must mourn.. ': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? "My subject, then fellow citizens," says Douglass, "is American slavery ." Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. 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. It was one of five autobiographies he penned,. We were all giddy with the reality of a black president who had been willing to talk about race during the campaign. 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. Funny you should ask. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. 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. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. There should be no shoulder that does not bear the burden of the government. He had a prophetic vision for the future that he was always trying to work toward. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? Noting the rapid changes in transportation and communication he insists that Space is comparatively annihilated. Last year, Singapore's GDP grew 3.6%. Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? is the popular name of a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on the Fifth of July 1852 in Rochester, N.Y.. And the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures, too. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic.

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