Celebrating Frederick Douglass through Transcription VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. You may rejoice. 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. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. Your President, your Secretary of State, ourlords,nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Space is comparatively annihilated. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. 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. President John F. Kennedy On July 4, 1962 President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was born amid such sights and scenes. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. 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, . 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 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. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Nobody doubts it. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. 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. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the Constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth That year will come, and freedoms reign. All Rights Reserved. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Who can reason on such a proposition? be warned! Frederick Douglass: (04:09) A Nation's Story: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! 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. I must mourn. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. If I do forget, if I do not 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. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. During Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. 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! They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. Where these are, man is not sacred. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. Frederick Douglass Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul! The anti-slavery movementtherewas not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement: and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostile position towards that movement. Speech who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. I will show you a man-drover. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. 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. "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. 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 Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. You live and must die, and you must do your work. They were great in their day and generation. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. 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. You profess to believe that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth, and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. I will not. 1883 Speech by Frederick Douglass - accessible-archives.com To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. 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? Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. 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 ions, 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? They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. 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. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. Speech Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? Frederick Douglass: (00:26) They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. 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! For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man Speech | The Art of Manliness The testimony of Senator Breese, Lewis Cass, and many others that might be named, who are everywhere esteemed as sound lawyers, so regard the constitution. welcome anything! 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. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. They, that can, may. Your cause would be much more likely to succeed. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. But, such is not the state of the case. My soul sickens at the sight. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. And while slavery has long been abolished and outlawed, the sentiment behind the address still applies in many unfortunate ways when it comes to the overall Black experience in America. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! What, then, remains to be argued? 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? These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Its deeply moving to hear Douglass defend the honor of Black soldiers in his 1863 speech, The Proclamation And a Negro Army, read by Colman Domingo, while his final speech, 1894s Lessons of the Hour, lays out the crucial steps toward achieving equality that have yet to be followed today.The actor selected to read these words is An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. I will not excuse. 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? And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. 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 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. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. 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. You may well cherish the memory of such men. Is it not astonishing that while we are plowing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metal 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 we are engaged in all the enterprises, common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planting, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all confessing and worshiping the Christian God and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave. 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. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. It was, Milloy continued, a critique of a nation that claimed to hold dear the principles of freedom, justice and equality even as it enslaved black people.. I repeat, I am glad this is so. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried mens souls. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Yet they persevered. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. 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. You know what is a swine-drover? These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. Fellow-citizens! Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. 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. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. 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.
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