Juneteenth Reading List: 10 Books To Learn More About Black Independence Day, Your email will be shared with newsone.com and subject to its, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, he was issuing , a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy, . WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. WebA speech celebrating both Lincoln and African Americans freedom wrought by Lincoln. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? I am not that man. Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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. This truth is not a doubtful one. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most sacrilegious and shocking and would make me a reproach before God and the world. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? 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. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Frederick Douglass Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. Frederick Douglass: (07:35) You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. 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! 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. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. or is it in the temple? They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. Fellow-citizens! I will not excuse. The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem the Fugitive Slave Law as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, andnota vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground formen. 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? This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 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. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and toallrights in this republic, the rights of God included! Frederick Douglass: (08:30) The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. 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. Short bio of Frederick Douglass The Frederick Douglass Papers Library of Congress They were not the men to look back. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. Speech 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 and question and to denounce with all the emphasis I can command everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. Nobody doubts it. The Lords of Buffalo, the Springs of New York, the Lathrops of Auburn, the Coxes and Spencers of Brooklyn, the Gannets and Sharps of Boston, the Deweys of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land have, in utter denial of the authority ofHimby whom they professed to be called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example or the Hebrews and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teachthat we ought to obey mans law before the law of God. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive. WebFrederick Douglass speech Historical Document "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" 1852 Resource Bank Contents Click here for the text of this historical document. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it), may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. You have already declared it. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has Oppression makes a wise man mad. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. 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. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. R. R. Raymond) on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slaves redemption from his chains. But, to proceed. In the text it states, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave- we are called upon to prove that we are men? (Douglas 763). Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass America Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. I will use the severest language I can command. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. The text of Frederick Douglasss most famous speech, given in 1852, What, to a slave, is the Fourth of July? A chapter describing Douglasss early encounters with abolitionists, from his autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, 1857. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. Would you argue more and denounce less? I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. 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? It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose, aseventh partof the inhabitants of your country. They were great in their day and generation. The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select. Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. Frederick Douglass The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. His death, according to Douglass was not only tragic, but also prevented recently freed slaves and African Americans from gaining the ear of wise and well-intentioned leader. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. When Douglass delivered his famous The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, he was issuing a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy reminded readers. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. That he is the rightful owner of his own body? WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! 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. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. When the dogs in your street, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea and the reptiles that crawl shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. The time for such argument is past. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. It is not that pure and undefiled religion which is from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,without partiality, and without hypocrisy. But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains,stay there; and to the oppressor,oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. That point is conceded already. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. When a sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is chartered, for the purpose of conveying the forlorn crew to Mobile, or to New Orleans. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. All Rights Reserved. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it. 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 masters? How should I look today, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have He can bring no witnesses for himself. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. You were under the British Crown. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. From police shootings to the wage gap to crippling stereotypes (and everything in between), there are too many parallels today with what Douglass described in his speech to white America, including this relevant line: This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! 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. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. 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. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed. They that can, may; I cannot. Is slavery among them? They inhabit all our Southern States. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. I am not that man. Speech Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. You may well cherish the memory of such men. I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! Community Reading: Frederick Douglass's "What had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, 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! Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest a nations jubilee. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. 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, andlet the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. At the time of the delivery of this speech, Douglass had been living in Rochester, New York for several years editing a weekly abolitionist newspaper. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Where these are, man is not sacred. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? Like our content? For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. I shall not be charged with slandering Americans, if I say I think the American side of any question may be safely left in American hands. Speech Transcript Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. No, I will not. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) You have already declared it. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. But, such is not the state of the case. welcome anything! Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man Speech | The Art of Manliness What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. Difference between Rittenhouse and McMichael-Bryan verdicts? Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Mark them! 1883 Speech by Frederick Douglass - accessible-archives.com They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. That year will come, and freedoms reign. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. Speech The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Americans! The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. But now is the time, the important time. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. WebOn January 9, 1894, at Washington, D.C.'s, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Frederick Douglass delivered his "The Lessons of the Hour" speech, which addressed the The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. Oration by Frederick Douglass, delivered on the occasion of the He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the British Government persisted in the exactions complained of.
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