Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, 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 Fourth of July.At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. If I do forget, if I do not 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.My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Then, answer the questions that follow.īear in mind that Douglass was speaking at a celebration of July 4th, Independence Day, and consider what that day means to Americans.""Frederick DouglassFellow 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. The following passage is an excerpt from the address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" given by Frederick Douglass to the Rochester (New York) Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852. Read "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" given by Frederick Douglass.
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