July 4 Communal Reading Of Frederick Douglass Speech Celebrates The Struggle For Justice
Gathering on the South Amherst Common on July 4, 2021 for the annual communal reading of Frederick Douglass' speech, What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July? Photo: Amilcar Shabazz
The annual communal reading of Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” address from 1852, was held on the South Amherst Common on July 4 and was attended by a crowd of about 200 people. Among the readers was the former mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulin Cruz, who joined in the post-reading discussion, making critical connections between the colonial condition of Puerto Rico to the inhumanity Douglass was calling out in his 1852 speech
This year, as in other years, was a wonderful opportunity to consider the power of human speech and the communication of human intellect and emotion concerning the struggle for justice. It gives us a chance to fight hypocrisy and interrogate the meaning of the Declaration of Independence in what it so brilliantly accomplished and so disastrously failed to do. It inspires us to think and act as Douglass so bravely did.
View a video of the readings here and here.
Listen to The Amherst Area Gospel Choir perform a medley of freedom songs to kick off the communal reading here.
Read a story about the Amherst event in the Daily Hampshire Gazette here
Read the full text of Douglass’ speech here.
View a reading of a portion of Douglass’ speech by his descendants here.
Photos From the Event:
