NPR: Frederick Douglass

NPR Articles on Frederick Douglass




FARAI CHIDEYA, host:

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass asked that famous question 155 years ago this week in his speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro."

The 34-year-old former slave was, by then, a successful writer and an orator of international fame.

In this speech, which he gave in New York to a crowd of 600, Douglass delivered a scathing rebuke of America. Douglass said the existence of slavery voided all the ideas of democracy and freedom this nation holds so high, especially on Independence Day.

Here to talk about Douglass' speech is David Blight. He's a professor of American history at Yale University.