What to the Slave is The Fourth of July?: This Date in History

[donbosco]

3.2 Million Americans were enslaved in the decade before the Civil War (1850-60). The nation was divided by this hypocrisy. One side right, and the other wrong. “In 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his speech 'The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,' on July 5 at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Rochester, New York. Douglass’ words resonate today." His audience was made up of abolitionists and anti-slavery Americans.

"Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and it's crimes against God and man must be denounced."

"The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] 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."

Listen as Danny Glover reads an excerpt from Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852" at the link below --

The Link to the entire Transcript: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass

The Link to The Speech Audio spoken by Glover:

 

[donbosco]

How about a look in on North Carolina’s Rich & Famous? On November 29, 1931 Z.Smith Reynolds secretly wed actress and torch singer Libby Holman. It was a tumultuous union. On July 5, 1932, as a party was winding down in his home, Reynolds was shot. Holman was indicted, as was Reynolds’ best friend, Ab Walker, but there was no trial-a suicide was ruled.


The investigation and subsequent dropping of charges against Holman drew national attention. Adding to the public’s fascination, Holman was 6 months pregnant at the time of the shooting. She reported that Reynolds was despondent and took his own life.

Holman received $750,000 in insurance and the child, Christopher, a $6.7 million trust fund. The performer attempted to return to the stage with no real success. The darkness of her notoriety was too much.

In 1936 Z.Smith Reynolds’ siblings founded a Foundation named for him dedicated to charitable works that continues to this day to do good work around North Carolina and the world.

Libby Holman committed suicide in 1971 at the age of 65.

Tragic Pairing of Tobacco Heir and Torch Singer

On November 29, 1931, Zachary Smith Reynolds married Broadway actress Libby Holman. The young tobacco heir had just spent the better part of a year following the starlet and torch singer around the world until she finally agreed to marry him.The young couple wed in secret in the parlor of a...

www.ncdcr.gov

 

[Centerpiece]

3.2 Million Americans were enslaved in the decade before the Civil War (1850-60). The nation was divided by this hypocrisy. One side right, and the other wrong. “In 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his speech 'The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,' on July 5 at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Rochester, New York. Douglass’ words resonate today." His audience was made up of abolitionists and anti-slavery Americans.

"Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and it's crimes against God and man must be denounced."

"The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] 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."

Listen as Danny Glover reads an excerpt from Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852" at the link below --

The Link to the entire Transcript: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass

The Link to The Speech Audio spoken by Glover:

On NPR yesterday, I heard James Earl Jones recite this piece by Frederick Douglas.

 

[sringwal]

3.2 Million Americans were enslaved in the decade before the Civil War (1850-60). The nation was divided by this hypocrisy. One side right, and the other wrong. “In 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his speech 'The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,' on July 5 at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Rochester, New York. Douglass’ words resonate today." His audience was made up of abolitionists and anti-slavery Americans.

"Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and it's crimes against God and man must be denounced."

"The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] 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."

Listen as Danny Glover reads an excerpt from Douglass's "Fourth of July Speech, 1852" at the link below --

The Link to the entire Transcript: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass

The Link to The Speech Audio spoken by Glover:

As fantastic as the Danny Glover reading of it is, I recommend Ossie Davis’ more:

 

[donbosco]

Those are all good readings and I play them for students...Benjamin Bratt does a very good one too IMO.

I've had the good fortune to heard David Blight speak and often turn to his lectures, speeches, and visits to podcasts...here is less than 5 minutes from him on Douglass...