250 years of American independence: Frederick Douglass, the former slave turned celebrity who skewered the Republic's hypocrisy

"What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?": James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass's Historic Speech

We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The late actor James Earl Jones read the historic address during a performance of Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which was co-edited by Howard Zinn.

What to the Black Community Is the Fourth of July?

In 1852, Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist and political figure delivered a lengthy and profound address in upstate New York at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society titled, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” This week marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence which was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

250 years of American independence: When John Adams predicted that democracy would commit suicide

'America 250' (5/13). John Adams, the second president of the United States, and his successor Thomas Jefferson did not share the same view of human nature. Adams, an educated anti-slavery advocate from the North, feared that democracy would perish under the weight of corruption among the powerful. Posterity, however, has largely remembered the soaring rhetoric of Jefferson, the slaveholding Southern planter.

What Americans See as the Country's Greatest Achievements

NBC News asked an open ended question about America's greatest achievement in the past 250 years was and the majority named civil rights: The abolition of slavery was a magnificent achievement for us. I think one of our strengths was we used to make laws to help people, a Texas man in his 30s told the pollsters.

The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech challenges American freedom by exposing the injustice of slavery on Independence Day. The post The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.