Revisiting “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?”
The speech delivered 170 years ago today should be heard with fresh ears and without fear
Frederick Douglass delivered his immortal speech, “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” on July 5, 1852. 170 years ago. Eloquence, resonance. Sometimes, the speech indicts us.
Can we celebrate the Fourth of July when so America has done…so many terrible things? If we celebrate without actually knowing those terrible things — acknowledging them — striving to rectify them — are we actually endorsing those terrible things?
Critics may express a driving love, which compels them to call attention to whatever does not measure up, that fault that should be improved upon or corrected. To quote one of America’s sharpest witnesses:
Certainly, one part of the America that James Baldwin loved came into existence because of Americans like Frederick Douglass. No matter how many racial and other brutalities he might witness, Baldwin knew America was bigger than that.
Douglass might not have been so confident. After all,
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh, had I the ability and could reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire.
Frederick Douglass, 1852
In 1852, with millions of Americans in bondage and millions of others in conditions frequently little better, lighting a fire might well have been necessary.
But in 2022, is the fire needed this time?
During Fourth of July festivities in America, surely the National Anthem will be played at some point or another. Perhaps that’s an appropriate starting reference for Douglass’ speech.
Francis Scott Key wrote the “Star-Spangled Banner” on September 15, 1814, three years before Douglass was born. A successful Maryland lawyer from a slave-owning family, Key supported emancipating at least some slaves and then sending them ‘back’ to Africa. During his time as a government attorney, he prosecuted Abolitionists and those disseminating speeches. Had he been alive to hear Douglass’ speech, he might have seen it as criminal sedition, and arrested anyone spreading a copy of it.
As a ‘fugitive slave’ from Maryland, Frederick Douglass would have known the risk men like Francis Scott Key represented for him and his family. Even staying far away from their places of power — in Massachusetts, or in Rochester — Douglass knew they had agents, allies, and sycophants currying favor from slaveowners who might assassinate, kidnap, or beat him. Or his family. He knew plenty of Northerners would also trample upon him — for any reason, or for no reason whatsoever.
Given the stakes, Douglass delivered his “What is the Fourth of July to a Slave?” oration as a gesture of courage, not of contempt.
Douglass would probably have heard the Star-Spangled Banner, a popular patriotic song in Maryland where he grew up, and elsewhere in America too. The song was not an official ‘national anthem’ of America, but how can millions of people sing about ‘the land of the free’ while owning slaves?
In 1859, Douglass might have thought somewhat differently about the Fourth of July. A few months before, John Brown invited Douglass to join his infamous raid on Harper’s Ferry. Douglass demurred.
Perhaps Douglass saw John Brown’s plan to raid Harper’s Ferry as a suicide mission. Lighting fires might be necessary, but a futile stunt would only result in more needless suffering, much of which would fall on entirely innocent Black people, both free and enslaved. Yet was it really destined to be futile? Can’t vast fires start with small sparks?
Imagine the tension inside Douglass on that Fourth of July, when he would note observations and festivities held by some Americans, while feeling pangs and fury on behalf of enslaved Americans: doing whatever it was he was doing, but knowing that he was not setting up for the imminent raid a few months away.
How should we hear the withering streams of sarcasm in Douglass’s speech in 1852, and connect that with the man himself in 1859? We cannot, save with the power of our imagination. But with that remarkable power, we can imagine Douglass as both pragmatic and principled. Unlike John Brown, it is not enough to die for a cause: one must win it.
Fireworks are 4th of July staples in America. In 1863, fireworks displays were surely muted by far more horrifying sights as the Civil War dragged on, escalating and growing more and more bloody. Just days before, the bloodiest battle of the entire war had started at Gettysburg, even as one of the bloodiest sieges dragged on and on at Vicksburg.
In early 1863, Douglass “urged every man who could to enlist; to get an eagle on his button, a musket on his shoulder, and the star-spangled banner over his head.” He knew the power of the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’
Two of his sons enlisted as soon as they were able to join a regiment to fight for the Union. They marched beneath the star-spangled banner. They probably even sang the anthem, which surged in popularity during the Civil War, referencing the Union as signified by the stars on the banner (and also, perhaps subtly tweaking Marylanders’ pride: as a slave-owning border state, had they seceded along with the others, the Confederacy would have cut off Washington DC, acquired a navy and even acquired a substantial portion of the North’s defense industry).
Douglass knew and borrowed from his Bible frequently. Long before his sons enlisted, that verse from the Book of John must have haunted him: “For God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son…” To die? Was that what he sent his sons to do?
On July 4, 1863, word surely had arrived about the start of the battle, but did Douglass know it was won? Did anyone know at what cost?
From our 21st century vantage, surrounded by GPS, cell phone, and other technological tools, the notion of not knowing whether our loved ones are living or dead is unfamiliar. When we listen to something like the reading of Frederick Douglass’ famous oration by his descendants, that confirms who won, that his family survived, maybe even thrived.
Douglass would not have known that on July 4, 1863.
After the Civil War, Douglass’ life probably focused on further work to protect newly freed peoples, particularly efforts to secure their right to vote enshrined in the 15th Amendment (passed by Congress in 1869, ratified 1870).
I could imagine him celebrating the 4th of July in 1870, five months after the 15th Amendment was finally ratified, watching the parades and celebrations, knowing that Reconstruction was stumbling and that Southerners were actively hunting and torturing freed Black men almost everywhere. He would have mused about what to do.
Found a newspaper? He tried that in 1872 (probably took him some time to find the people and line up financing). It went bankrupt.
He was granted a role leading the Freedman’s Bank. It went bankrupt soon after (smearing his reputation, even if the corruption that caused it preceded him).
A swathe of government positions followed — many appointing him as the ‘first Black man’ to serve as a US Marshal, a Recorder of Deeds, ambassador to Haiti.
After his first wife died in 1882, Douglass married his secretary, Helen Pitts. A white woman. Their marriage would have been illegal in several states in America, at least until Loving v. Virginia (1967).
Douglass probably wouldn’t judge us harshly for celebrating the Fourth of July in 2022. Angry? Circumspect? I imagine him shrugging all of that aside and looking for whatever practical action might best result in helping his people, while striving to also protect the rights of all other people.
He would see the ironies and failures. He would also see the power of celebration as a community. His powerful critique mattered: but so did the hundreds of thousands of men and women who laid down their lives — and celebrations like the Fourth of July may serve to unite all such people despite every horror and atrocity.
But only so long as we are willing to acknowledge whatever horrors we see and do our part to rectify them. The ones who use the Fourth of July to hide brutal facts of life are false patriots.
If asked to speak in 2022, I can imagine Douglass offering quite a different take than what he offered in 1852. But he is no longer with us. We must figure out our way forward ourselves.
