The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

[sheshe2]

by Frederick Douglass


A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852

Quote
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as the question(s) remain unanswered ...

"I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.-The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fa thers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. 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. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!"

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More http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html

Posted for a man who cannot.

[brer cat]

1. We should reflect on his words about this day.

They are as meaningful today as they were in 1852. "The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me."

[sheshe2]

2. Yes we should reflect.

That one quote speaks volumes.

Thank you so much for your response, brer.

[rusty quoin]

3. I was for decades amazed by the eloquence of Lincoln, given his humble beginnings.

But it's been maybe a decade I've thought the same about Frederick Douglass. I do not know for sure whether or not he was a genius, but cannot but help but believe he was one.

I know he learned to read and write secretly while a slave. But how does one write like that after escaping?

[sheshe2]

4. His whole speech, so powerful.

It may well have been his life's experience and how it effected his heart and soul. Raw passion in his words. A genius, yes I believe so.