Frederick Douglass by Samuel J,. Miller (1847-1852)
This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (July 5, 1852)
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 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. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?
Source and Full Text: Africans in America -PBS
On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester’s Corinthian Hall.
Read more in Don’t Know Much About History and Don’t Know Much About the Civil War
Don’t Know Much About the Civil War (Harper paperback, Random House Audio)
Don’t Know Much About® History: Anniversary Edition (Harper Perennial and Random House Audio)
