Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. Rochester, New York, June 16, 1861 From police shootings to the wage gap to crippling stereotypes (and everything in between), there are too many parallels today with what Douglass described in his speech to white America, including this relevant line: This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. The film suggests that Douglass facility with words was just as important as his physical courage in taking on the institution of slavery. He argued that freedom would be empty if former slaves were not guaranteed the rights and protections of American citizens. An Address Author, abolitionist, political activist, and philosopher, Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. Actors Nicole Beharie ( Scenes from a Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 Demands of the Hour Nicholas Bromell, a historian who appears in the PBS film, says it was routine for even progressive leaders like abolitionists to warn of the hordes of Chinese immigrants coming to America during that era. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Quarantine and Disease Control in America, Reconstruction of Southern States: Pamphlets. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it. All Rights Reserved. Douglass optimism may sound quaint today. Our Reading List in Honor of Frederick Douglass Day 1. The material discusses and illuminates the problems experienced by emancipated blacks during Reconstruction and into the early 20th century, encompassing agriculture, business, race relations, reconstruction, education, politics, voting rights, and economic improvement for African Americans. The speech is called Composite Nation and in it Douglass tackles a question that lurks behind many of the current political debates in the US: Is the country better off having a multitude of races, ethnic groups and religious beliefs? This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. This, however, did not answer the purpose. But Douglass Composite Nation speech was filled with an audacious hope that belied the pervasive prejudice of his era. Some 150 years later, Douglass vision of the US as a multi-hued global beacon of liberty remains fiercely contested. He saw the Supreme Court demolish hard-won laws that granted Black citizens political power. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. A battle is still being fought over that idea today. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Frederick Douglass, circa 1880. On April 16, 1883, Douglass addressed the 21st anniversary of emancipation in Washington, DC. From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as Americas literary canon. Narrated by actor Wendell Pierce, it retraces many pivotal moments in Douglass life: How he traded biscuits as a boy with White playmates to learn how to read; the crucial contributions of his first wife; his legendary two-hour fight with an overseer; and a recreation of his famed Fourth of July speech. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Once an ally of William Lloyd Garrison and his followers, Douglass started to work more closely with Gerrit Smith and John Brown. The first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, catapulted him to fame and invigorated the abolitionist movement. Douglass urges America to eliminate prejudice and look to its founding principles. To My American Readers and Friends Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings (The Library of Black America series): Foner, Philip S., Taylor, Yuval: 9781556523526: Amazon.com: Books Books History Americas Buy new: $33.40 List Price: $35.00 Details Save: $1.60 (5%) FREE Returns FREE delivery Thursday, December 15 Select delivery location No Peace for the Slaveholder: An Address Lynn, Massachusetts, October 1841 It was, Milloy continued, a critique of a nation that claimed to hold dear the principles of freedom, justice and equality even as it enslaved black people.. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descended will be less likely to be disputed than mine! WebDouglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 (Speaker) Douglass, Helen, 1838-1903 (Speaker) Created / Published 1846 - 1894 Headings - United States- . Chaffin, Tom. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. Rochester and Slave-Catching Douglass Monthly, March 1863 Speeches include: I Have Come To Tell You Something About Slavery (1841) performed by Denzel Whitaker. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Edited by Pulitzer Prizewinning biographer David W. Blight, this Library of America edition is the largest single-volume selection of Frederick Douglasss writings ever published, presenting the full texts of thirty-four speeches and sixty-seven pieces of journalism. Douglass responds to the Emancipation Proclamation and calls for the Black man to be allowed to fight in the war. The anti-slavery movementtherewas not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement: and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostile position towards that movement. People likely related more to the fury Douglass expressed at American hypocrisy and racism in his 1852 Fourth of July speech. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Progress of Slavery The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. Boston, Massachusetts, February 5, 1862 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. This Decision Has Humbled the Nation: An Address Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. There Was a Right Side in the Late War: An Address Men of Color, To Arms! He called them ministers of despair and mocked critiques such as You will never make the Negro work without a master, or make him an intelligent voter, or a good and useful citizen.. Our own interests will be best subserved by a generous care for the interests of the nation at large. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Douglass Monthly, April 1861 They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Most noteable is a transcription of Frederick Douglass' speech given at the 2nd Annual N.C. Negro State Fair. we wept when we remembered Zion. (LogOut/ Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest a nations jubilee. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Reply to Postmaster General Montgomery Blair The President of Frederick Douglass Republicans of Tarrant County Reading List is found below: "Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain"by Kathy Signs of the Times They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! In this must-read autobiography published in 1855, Douglass reflects on his life following his legal emancipation in 1846. He was absolutely alone. Chicago, Illinois, January 2, 1893 For that reason, only 6% of the nation was eligible to vote in the first presidential election, Goldstone said. What, then, remains to be argued? If that is what they wanted, they had any number of other choices, such as Iran, Russia or Hungary.. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Lessons Of The Hour (1894) performed by Jeffrey Wright. For customers in other countries: Mexico and South America: Contact TriLiteral See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable. 688 Pages, 5.50 x 8.25 x 1.36 in, 5 b-w illus. They were great in their day and generation. , that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a pivotal figure in the decades of struggle leading up to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it), may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. Douglass lived in an even more brutal era and experienced the worst forms of racial prejudice and American hypocrisy. Douglass addresses the American Anti-Slavery Society on his return from the British Isles which he found to be more accepting and equitable than his own country. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. WebThe rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Groups that include people with different backgrounds and cultures consistently come up with more innovative solutions to problems because theyre not confined to one perspective, research says. 302 Temple Street Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. The Liberator, January 30, 1846 In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. Douglass Monthly, November 1862 Frederick Douglass published three autobiographies. And while slavery has long been abolished and outlawed, the sentiment behind the address still applies in many unfortunate ways when it comes to the overall Black experience in America. The North American Review, May 1886 Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. Letter to My Old Master. Douglass Monthly, March 1862 This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. To William Lloyd Garrison The New National Era, April 6, 1871 In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! Actors Nicole Beharie (Scenes from a Marriage), Colman Domingo (Euphoria), Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country), Denzel Whitakerand Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) draw from five of Douglass legendary speeches, to represent a different moment in the tumultuous history of 19th century America as well as a different stage of Douglass long and celebrated life. to place your order. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. It was, Milloy continued, a critique of a nation that claimed to hold dear the principles of freedom, justice and equality even as it enslaved black people.. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. The Writings and Speeches Subseries includes addresses given by Hunter and others. , John Browns Contributions to the Abolition Movement: An Address Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? It had made my brothers and sisters strangers to me; it converted the mother that bore me, into a myth; it shrouded my father. Back to Search Results Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. be warned! I repeat, I am glad this is so. January First 1863 Douglass vision of America as a multi-hued beacon of global liberty still looms ahead of us like a rhetorical North Star. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. Long story short? Douglass Monthly, January 1863 They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. In the name of your country, torn, distracted, bleeding, and while you are weeping over the bloody graves of more than two hundred thousand of your noblest sons, many of whom have been cut down, in the midst of youthful vigor and beauty, we [Black people] implore you [white people] to abolish slavery. Washington, D .C ., January 9, 1894 The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. The Destiny of Colored Americans Douglass Monthly, October 1862 The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass: In Pursuit of American Liberty. He had a difficult family life. What can we say about Frederick Douglas, the nations most formative abolitionist, on a day set aside to remember his impact on American society and his contributions to the racial justice movement? But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Pro-Trump protesters stand on the East steps of the Capitol Building after storming its grounds on January 6, 2021, in Washington. Americans! Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. The True Issue The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The North Star, May 30, 1850 Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly to make sure that emancipation would be one of the war's outcomes. Douglass Monthly, April 1863 Some Founding Fathers opposed granting the vote to ordinary citizens, and early electoral districts were kept large to inhibit campaigning by all except those wealthy enough to travel across their expansive boundaries, the historian Lawrence Goldstone wrote in a recent essay called America, then and now.. Corrections? Douglass Monthly, November 1859 New York, New York, February 6, 1863 For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. Douglass Monthly, November 1861 Tags: Black History Month, Frederick Douglass, Gilded Age. Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe ofmint, anise,andcumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.. The Church and Pejudice To Our Oppressed Countrymen He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. In a speech made to the nations Black leaders in 1864, Douglass said. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. A Trip to Hayti 688 Pages, 5.50 x 8.25 x 1.36 in, Haiti Among the Foremost Civilized Nations of the Earth: An Address The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. A Warner Bros. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. "A smile or a tear has no nationality. Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive. People wept as he recounted the horrors of slavery or erupted in laughter as he mimicked his former slave master. Glasgow, Scotland, March 26, 1860 Discount offer available for first-time customers only. I n a very telling sign, the fateful words of Frederick Douglass from a speech he delivered 170 years ago still resonate Cork, Ireland, October 14, 1845 That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. 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