That point is conceded already. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. 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. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. WebA speech celebrating both Lincoln and African Americans freedom wrought by Lincoln. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Is slavery among them? Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. As with rivers so with nations. That year will come, and freedoms reign. There is blasphemy in the thought. 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. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. These rules are well established. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? When the dogs in your streets, 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, thenwill I argue with you that the slave is a man! What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations Jubilee when the chains of servitude have been torn from his limbs? But I fancy, I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression upon the public mind. 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.. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. They inhabit all our Southern States. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; buthow, we ask, could such a thing be done? In a very telling sign, the fateful words of Frederick Douglass from a speech he delivered 170 years ago still resonate very much in 2022 as Black people in America continue the fight for the same kind of equality that the legendary abolitionist was demanding back in the mid-19th century. 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. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. 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 speaking of it, relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. 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! Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. 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! Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ, is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate. 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. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. The time was when such could be done. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. 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, Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. I cannot. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. No! Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? 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. What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. WebOn December 3, 1860, Frederick Douglass and a group of fellow abolitionists met at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston for a discussion centered around the following Your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless, your shouts of Liberty and equality, hallow mocked, your prayers and hymns your sermons and Thanksgivings with all your religious parade in solemnity are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, a thin veil to cover up crimes, which would disgrace a nation of savages. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. I must mourn. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! 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. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. They that can, may; I cannot. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. The time for such argument is passed. or is it in the temple? You could instruct me in regard to them. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. This, however, did not answer the purpose. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Oppression makes a wise man mad. 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. We need the storm. 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. Americans! 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, . During But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. 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. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. 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. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. 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. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? Frederick Douglass: (05:02) Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! 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. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. 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? This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. But now is the time, the important time. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Web"The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9, 1894 Friends and Fellow Citizens : No man should come before an audience like the one by whose presence I am now honored, without a noble object and a fixed and earnest purpose. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I will show you a man-drover. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? 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? 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. Go search where you will. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They, that can, may. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. Fellow-citizens! 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. Yet they persevered. 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. 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 fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow., The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. 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. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery! Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? How unlike the politicians of an hour! You were under the British Crown. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! 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. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Frederick Douglass: (07:35) What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. 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. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. With head, and heart, and hand Ill strive, 8 Times Obama Showed Trump How Presidents Are Supposed To Celebrate The Fourth Of July, Welcome To The Cookout: 10 Lit Movies To Watch During July Fourth Holiday Weekend, 'Dilbert' Comic Creator Calls Black People A 'Hate Group,' Urges Segregation So Whites Can 'Escape', Bernie Mac Show Star Camille Winbush Is Not Ashamed Of Joining OnlyFans, Kyle Rittenhouse Faces 2nd Civil Lawsuit, Continues To Beg For Money From His Supporters, Ben Stein's 'Aunt Jemima' Rant Is A Master Class On White Privilege, Why Did tWitch Kill Himself? Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpablebribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty,hear only his accusers! Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. 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.