What to the slave is the fourth of july

On Monday July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass captivated his audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York with one of the most powerful antislavery orations ever delivered, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”1 As an African American and former slave himself, Douglass was a crucial component to the Civil Rights movement and the abolishment of slavery. His concern for equal rights sprouted as early as twelve years old, often listening to debates among free blacks in Baltimore, as well as becoming a member of the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. While enslaved, he taught himself to read and write with the patriotic essays and speeches in Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator, which emphasized the power of a speaker’s natural language and delivery, eventually influencing Douglass as an orator. Once Douglass courageously escaped slavery, he became a high-powered abolishment activist in the movement to create equal rights for all Americans. 2
Douglass was invited to deliver the Independence Day speech addressing what the Fourth of July meant for the slaves.3 Instead of celebrating the accomplishments and legacy of America, Douglass strayed away from the norms of the holiday, and instead scorned the current American generation for its failure to provide justice to all American citizens.4 His message criticized the present state of the nation and its failure to live up to the promises of the Constitution by allowing slavery in America. Contrary to what the holiday stood for in America, Douglass argued that the Fourth of July, for enslaved Americans, was the one day of the year that represents more than anything else the great injustice of slavery: 5 “What, to the American Slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” 6 Douglass’ message was vastly different than other Fourth of July orations because it clearly distinguished