This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. He can bring no witnesses for himself. I am not that man. 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. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. 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? Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. 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. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. 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. Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. 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. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Yet they persevered. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. Would you argue more and denounce less? Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. 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. Its the news, without the news. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide 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. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. I hold that every American citizen has a right 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 arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! I lived on Philpot Street, Fells Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Full transcript of the famous speech What to the Slave is the 4th of July? by Frederick Douglass. 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? 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. Yea! You may well cherish the memory of such men. We need the storm. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. We thank you for taking the time to watch this community reading of Frederick Douglasss What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Source: Blight, David. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. 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 cyphering, 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 Christians God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. No! 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. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African WebA speech celebrating both Lincoln and African Americans freedom wrought by Lincoln. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. I will not excuse. One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. You were under the British Crown. And am I therefore called upon to bring our humble offering to the national alter and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of 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. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. Is that a question for Republicans? 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. Who can reason on such a proposition? Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. 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? 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! 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. You live and must die, and you must do your work. I will show you a man-drover. 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. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Yea! A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. This, however, did not answer the purpose. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! 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. You have already declared it. Oppression makes a wise man mad. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper. I will use the severest language I can command. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! They that can, may; I cannot. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. For who is there so cold that a nation sympathy cannot warm him, who so adore it and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? There are 72 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 these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. 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. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. 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. Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. Is that a question for Republicans? This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. 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. 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. It is neither. 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. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Frederick Douglass: (02:57) That year will come, and freedoms reign. I repeat, I am glad this is so. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Americans! If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. 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. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great.
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