For several reasons, I have hardly written anything on my blog since around October. Aside from one four-part series on The Crucible, anything I have posted has been a brief “advertisement” for another volume of my collection of older blog posts over the years. In any case, I feel the need to get back in the swing of things here on my blog. I’ve decided that over the next short while I’m going to be writing posts based on things I’ve covered in my American Literature class.
For most of my teaching career, I’ve either taught British Literature or Biblical Studies. It has only been over the last couple of years that I’ve ever had the opportunity to teach American Literature. I have to say it has been quite fun. Not only have I developed a deeper appreciation of American Literature, but I’ve also realized something really has been missed, culturally, in today’s America. To the point, the way both American history and literature seem to be covered simply isn’t the way it was covered when I was in school.
Now, I’m sure that the immediate reaction of some people will be this: “Right, when you were a student, people tried to cover up the sins of the United States and instead push an oppressive, capitalist, patriarchal, misogynistic distortion of American history.” My reaction to that reaction is a simple, “You’re out of your freaking mind.” In fact, that reaction is what’s wrong, because that reaction sadly has come to typify much of today’s approach to US history and literature. And that is a shame, because it is not true.
Take for example what the former MSNBC host Joy Reid has recently said concerning the upcoming 250th July 4th celebration. She said “black folks” will take the day off on July 4th. She said, “Nobody black that I know is really excited about the fourth of July, because it is what Frederick Douglass said it is. It is the celebration of slaveholders who freed themselves from having to pay taxes to the crown for their slave empire. And that is what it is, if we’re being perfectly honest, whether you read the 1619 Project or not.” She went on to say that African Americans feel about the 4th of July like Native Americans feel about Thanksgiving, like the Palestinians feel about the Nakba.
There are so many distortions in that statement, I don’t know where to begin. But her reference to the 1619 Project is a clear indication where she’s “doing her history” from. The 1619 Project that got numerous accolades was completely panned by actual historians. It put forth a complete distortion of US history. I’ll say more about that later, but the focus of this post (and maybe a second) is going to be on Reid’s comments about Frederick Douglass. She is no doubt alluding to Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Well, I’ve taught Douglass’ speech in my American Literature class and can tell you what Reid claims Douglass said isn’t anywhere in his speech. As with the 1619 Project, at best, it is a gross distortion. But people don’t know their US history that well anymore, so many are going to just take Reid’s word for it. Well, in this post, we’re going to go through Douglass’ speech.
Some Background
Frederick Douglass had been born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. In 1838, he escaped to New York, joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, became a licensed preacher, and eventually became one of the most influential abolitionists in the United States. Eventually, once Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, Douglass struck up a friendship with Lincoln and eventually convinced Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. There is much more to be said about Douglass’ life, but he clearly was one of the most important figures of 19th century America.
It was about eight years before he met Lincoln that Douglass gave his famous “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech on July 5, 1852. The speech was delivered to the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. This is important to remember, for Douglass was “preaching to the choir,” so to speak. His audience was already on his side. They knew his abolitionist views. That’s why they invited him to speak at their society.
Now, as we will find out, Douglass’ speech is shocking, abrasive, and fiery at times, but that isn’t all that is in the speech. As a side note, in the high school textbook I use in class, the speech was abridged, and only the shocking, abrasive, fiery parts were published in the book. The other parts (which I will note in this post) are equally important and give a fuller, much-needed context. Okay, enough of that background. Let’s dive into the overview of his speech.
An Overview: Introductory Remarks
In Douglass’ opening remarks, he begins by hearkening back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. He notes how the founding fathers had the courage to denounce the British government’s actions as unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and he tells his audience that he fully agrees with them. Not only that, but he regards the founding fathers to be “men of honesty and men of spirit” who tried to respectfully appeal to the British crown, only to be met with indifference.
Still, their righteous cause for justice acted as a “sheet anchor” that helped steady the “ship” of the colonies when Britain began to toss that “ship” in a storm. Douglass even equates the British government to that of Pharoah and his armies in the Exodus story. Just, as Pharoah and his armies were drowned in the sea as the Hebrews gained their freedom, the founding fathers also gained their freedom and independence. The result, as Douglass was telling his audience in 1852, was that their founding fathers achieved their independence and they were now able to enjoy the fruit of that struggle for independence.
Douglass then holds up the Declaration of Independence, calling it “the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny,” and saying that he regarded it in the same way. And not only does he praise the Declaration of Independence, he also takes time to praise the founding fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence: “They were brave me. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. …I cannot contemplate their great deed with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”
Douglass keeps going in his praise of the founding fathers. They were “peace men,” but preferred revolution to bondage. They were “quiet men,” but didn’t shrink from agitating against oppression. “With them, justice, liberty, and humanity were ‘final;’ not slavery and oppression.” They seized upon eternal principles and their lives set a glorious example for everyone. They appealed to heaven in their cause, they held to a glorious patriotism and a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom. And by doing so, they were able to lay down “the cornerstone of the national superstructure.”
Douglass concludes his introductory remarks by pointing to the great work the founding father did and appealing to his audience to continue their work for liberty and freedom: “You fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. You live and must die, and you must do your work.” Why? Because there was more work to be done—the freeing of the slaves. Douglass appeals to his audience not to be like the Jews of Jesus’ day who boasted they were “children of Abraham” and whose fathers “built tombs of the prophets” but actively persecuted the prophets.
Basically, Douglass was saying, “Don’t just honor the founding fathers—do the things they did.” And as an example, he holds up George Washington and said, “Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shout—‘We have Washington as our father.’ Alas! That it should be so; yet so it is.”
With that, Douglass then launches into a full-throated condemnation of slavery. But before I give an overview of that, I want to point out a few things in his introductory comments. Nowhere does he say (as Joy Reid claims he says) that the fourth of July was a celebration of slaveowners who simply didn’t want to pay taxes to Britain for their slave empire. He doesn’t say that at all. The exact opposite is true. He praises the founding fathers. He praises the Declaration of Independence. He equates the Revolutionary War to God’s freeing the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. All he does is lavish praise on the founding fathers and their cause for freedom.
Now, it is true (as we will see), Douglass has plenty of criticism of American slavery. He unleashes holy hell on it in his condemnation of it. And in the process, he emphasizes that for the slave in the south in 1852, the fourth of July is especially painful, given the rank hypocrisy of the southern slaveowners. But what he condemns is not the fourth of July itself, nor the fight for liberty that began with the Declaration of Independence. He condemns the hypocrisy and cruelty of the southern slaveowners. Nowhere does he suggest the reason for the American Revolution was that “slaveowners didn’t want to pay taxes for their slave empire.” To the contrary, he embraces and the values and principles that undergirded the American Revolution and celebrates the founding fathers who fought for their independence. And it is because he does that, that he can also condemn the hypocrisy and cruelty of southern slaveowners who are depriving their slaves of the same freedom that was given to them by the founding fathers.
That is a crucial point to make, and one that completely shows how fraudulent Joy Reid’s comments are. Douglass even takes the time to hold up George Washington—a southern slaveowner—and praise him for freeing his slaves before he died. He saw that although it was crucial to fight to end slavery, that slavery had still nevertheless been around for hundreds of years and one couldn’t just snap one’s fingers and magically fix everything at once. Washington had grown up within that system, and as he could, worked toward extending freedom, first to the colonies, and then eventually to the slaves on the plantation he had inherited. He didn’t fight the British so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes for his slaves. He fought the British for those ideals of liberty, just like our nation’s story says. Douglass recognized that and praised Washington for it.
Of course, Douglass then turns around and condemns those who used slave labor to build the monument honoring Washington. And that is where the focus of righteous condemnation should be. As we will see, that hypocrisy of the slaveowners in 1852 is why Douglass will say he cannot celebrate the fourth of July. The problem wasn’t the fourth of July itself. Douglass praises what it stands for. The problem was that the work of what the fourth of July stood for wasn’t yet complete.
In my next post, I’ll discuss Douglass’ searing criticism of American slavery, as well as his uplifting conclusion to his speech.
