frederick douglass speech about july 4 4th of july in lexington ky 2025

Between five and six hundred people paying 12½ cents each gathered at Corinthian Hall to hear Douglass give a Fourth of July address on 5 July 1852. Douglass, who spoke at the invitation of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, spent a great deal of time preparing this speech. “I have been en gaged in writing a Speech,” he wrote The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro Speech given by Frederick Douglass at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 () Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? The speech’s themes of hypocrisy, injustice, and the pursuit of true liberty resonate even today, making it a powerful text for understanding and addressing ongoing issues of racial inequality. In July 1776, Black people were not free, so in the words of Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? 1 . Tell the students that they will explore what Frederick Douglass said in a speech he delivered on July 5, 1852, to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York . This address has come to be known as the What to the Slave Is the 4th of July? Speech or the Fifth of July Speech . Resist the temptation to provide additional Frederick Douglass July 5, 1852 (What follows is an abridged version. Abridged by Janet Gillespie, Director of Programming, Community Change. The complete text may be "What, to the American Slave, Is Your 4th of July?" On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech to nearly six hundred people filling Rochester, New York’s Corinthian Hall, as organized by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” July 5, 1852 (excerpts) 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. “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with Frederick Douglass And The Lingering Relevance Of His ‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth of July?’. Speech. "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" Frederick Douglass There is no better example of how one can balance America’s strivings and failures than that provided by the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass in his famous July 5, 1852, speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In that speech, Douglass encouraged Americans to celebrate their anniversary. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" [1] [2] was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. [3] “The Celebration at Corinthian Hall,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper (Rochester, N.Y.), July 9, 1852, p.3. On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech to nearly six hundred people filling Rochester, New York’s Corinthian Hall, as organized by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech titled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” a call for the promise of liberty be applied equally to all Americans. In the speech, Douglass lamented that Independence Day wasn’t a day of celebration for enslaved people. At the same time, he urged his audience to read the U.S. Constitution not as a pro-slavery document, but as a “GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT.” What to the American slave is your 4th of July? 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. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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. On Monday, July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech to the “ Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, ” which arguably became his most famous public oration. Rather than a celebration of the Independence Day holiday, Douglass asked an obvious, simple and damning question: What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July? On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding, marked by the Continental Congress’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Why Frederick Douglass’ Fourth of July Speech Still Matters | Opinion | dailycourier.com One person who felt that way was Douglass, the famous abolitionist, who was himself born into slavery. When the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, N.Y., invited Douglass to give a July

frederick douglass speech about july 4 4th of july in lexington ky 2025
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