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. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. WebIn this speech, Frederick Douglass reflected on how the outpouring of joy at the conclusion of the Civil War turned to mourning with Lincolns assassination. 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. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Frederick Douglass You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. will be found by Americans. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Oration by Frederick Douglass, delivered on the occasion of the With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. You may rejoice. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, iswrong? It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. How unlike the politicians of an hour! Who can reason on such a proposition? It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. 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? WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. 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. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. You have already declared it. a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic;for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, andlet the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. 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.. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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 As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. 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. 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? WebIn December 1860, the great American orator and former slave Frederick Douglass delivered one of his finest speeches, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston. In it, he boldly declared that liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and I am not that man. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. A Nation's Story: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? And the conscience of the nation must be roused. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass O! 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? The time was when such could be done. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! Is that a question for Republicans? Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! 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. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. 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. 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 This truth is not a doubtful one. For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. You have already declared it. WebFrederick Douglass speech What to a Slave is the Fourth of July effectively argues against slavery. 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. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. But now is the time, the important time. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have Speech 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. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. Americans! Would you argue more and denounce less? Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. 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? be warned! 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? At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. 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. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it. Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

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