As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent My soul sickens at the sight. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) 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 What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Speech 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. All Rights Reserved. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. 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. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. 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. The drove moves tardily. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. that it should be so; yet so it is. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. 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. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. Speech I cannot. The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. 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. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. As with rivers so with nations. 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. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and 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 in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! What, then, remains to be argued? Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN 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. 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. 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. Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in 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. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Space is comparatively annihilated. 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.. 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. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. 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. But, to proceed. here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. You have already declared it. All Rights Reserved. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. 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. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. O! Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! We are called upon to prove that we are men. 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, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. You may rejoice. 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. Calculate how much it costs to transcribe, caption, or subtitle your content. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. Nobody doubts it. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! 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 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. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. Frederick Douglass I will use the severest language I can command. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Fellow-citizens! Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. Who can reason on such a proposition? 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. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. There is blasphemy in the thought. 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? 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, iswrong? Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. 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. 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, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. Web" 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 But, such is not the state of the case. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. They inhabit all our Southern States. Fellow citizens, above your national tumultuous joy I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains heavy and grievous yesterday are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. 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? Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. Oppression makes a wise man mad. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. 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. 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. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. 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? No, I will not. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. Speech Transcript Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. Frederick Douglass: (02:57) I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descended will be less likely to be disputed than mine! Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! Let this damning fact be perpetually told. 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. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass America The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. 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? The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. 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. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. 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. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.After the toast provided by former Senator Blanche K. Bruce, 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. 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. Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. 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! Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. The time for such argument is past. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. 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. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. We need the storm. I am not that man. Yet they persevered. That point is conceded already. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of 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. Is slavery among them? The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. 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. 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. 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. You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. Like our content? Do you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to speak today? No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: Th oppressd shall vilely bend the knee. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? Its quite a remarkable speech as Douglass in a way reenacts his own journey in appreciation for the work that Lincoln did, not just for blacks, but for whites in this country. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. But now is the time, the important time. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe ofmint, anise,andcumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? Community Reading: Frederick Douglass's "What There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. 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. 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). The manhood of the slave is conceded. Speech Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. 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. Frederick Douglass I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. The country was poor in the munitions of war. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! You were under the British Crown. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have.

The Butler Character Analysis, Yucaipa Police News Today, Articles F