frederick douglass speech transcript
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. 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. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent Frederick Douglass: (10:31) The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and toallrights in this republic, the rights of God included! Americans! I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. They, that can, may. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. 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. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. During Frederick Douglass: (09:38) They were great in their day and generation. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Like our content? That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. You have no right to enjoy a childs share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. Its the news, without the news. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. That point is conceded already. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. 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! One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. I am not that man. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. And am I therefore called upon to bring our humble offering to the national alter and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. The manhood of the slave is conceded. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. 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 That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer and advocate, abolitionist, orator, writer, minister, and statesman. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. The slave holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. be warned! President John F. Kennedy On July 4, 1962 President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. 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? Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. 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. 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. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. You live and must die, and you must do your work. When the dogs in your street, 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, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. Many of you understand them better than I do. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? 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.. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. 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 causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. Yet they persevered. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. He can bring no witnesses for himself. 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. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has 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! The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. 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. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! 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. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. 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. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. 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. Is that a question for Republicans? Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. 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. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? 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. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. 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? Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. 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? WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. 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. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text.
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