Summary
"We are African and we happen to be in America. We're not American. We are a people who formerly were Africans, who were kidnapped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren't the Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock the rock was landed on us."
[Frederick Douglass]' speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" was great, he spoke beyond his time. As an American I understand what the Fourth of July is about but reading this speech as a Black person I also understand the disconnect that some of us may have. I feel like they were disrespecting him for asking him to speak at that venue when people who looked like him weren't free.Fredrick Douglass said it best when he said, "I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary!" There was not one Black person to sign this important document, and it was later used to put Blacks in a far worse predicament then how the British had Americans before the declaration. In Fredrick Douglass' speech entitled, "The Meaning of July Forth for the Negro." In this speech he told the White audience "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn".See the full content of this document
Extract
The Words of Mr. Douglass
The following are excerpts from Frederick Douglass' speech entitled "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. "Douglass, considered the leading abolitionist of his time, gave the speech in Rochester, N.Y. July 5, 1852.
I say it with ...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
