Is Frederick Douglass’s Question Any Less Relevant Today?

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

By Engraved by J.C. Buttre from a daguerreotype. — Frontispiece: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom: Part I- Life as a Slave, Part II- Life as a Freeman, with an introduction by James M'Cune Smith. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan (1855), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3083385

For several years around this time, I reprinted the famous Fredrick Douglass speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” It’s a relatively long speech, but I take the time to read it slowly. I consider how relevant it is to Black people today. We are certainly not slaves, but are we truly free?

John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, about the significance of Independence Day and what role he anticipated it would play in America’s future. Adams believed the Declaration of Independence would be released on July 2, 1776. It was delayed by two days as Congress debated and removed a strong denunciation of King George for importing slaves to America. Thomas Jefferson wrote the deleted passage, strong words from a man who owned over 600 enslaved people during his lifetime.

“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from…