Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" was delivered by Frederick Douglass in 1852 in Rochester, New York. America was 76 years old, as Douglass says, "a mere speck in the life of a nation." As we near the 250th anniversary of the United States, what does this speech have to tell us today? And why was the moment in history when it was delivered so pivotal?
A masterwork of a speech, Douglass's message is highly critical of the hypocrisy of white American celebrations of freedom and equality on the 4th:
"Fellow 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 jubilee shouts that reach them."
Yet, Douglass also ends his speech on a note of hope and a call to action:
"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...I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope."
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" was delivered by Frederick Douglass in 1852 in Rochester, New York. America was 76 years old, as Douglass says, "a mere speck in the life of a nation." As we near the 250th anniversary of the United States, what does this speech have to tell us today? And why was the moment in history when it was delivered so pivotal?
A masterwork of a speech, Douglass's message is highly critical of the hypocrisy of white American celebrations of freedom and equality on the 4th:
"Fellow 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 jubilee shouts that reach them."
Yet, Douglass also ends his speech on a note of hope and a call to action:
"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...I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope."
