Frederick Douglass’ July 4th Speech Still Resonates Today

Fireworks will rise into the sky on July 4th as millions of Americans celebrate the birth of our nation and its values of freedom and independence.

But Ted Shaw, professor of law and director of the Center for Civil Rights at UNC-Chapel Hill, says it’s important to remember that July 4th, 1776 did not mark the birth of freedom for African Americans. They and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would remain enslaved for almost a hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

That distinction is the subject of Frederick Douglass’ fiery 1852 speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the Negro.” Shaw and others will be reading the speech at noon on July 4th at the Carrboro Century Center.

“He [Douglass] talked about the fact that white americans—they celebrated freedom, they celebrated independence, they celebrated their country. But for the slave—for African Americans—that was hypocrisy,” Shaw says.

Shaw says Douglass’ speech still resonates with Americans today, even 150 years after the abolition of slavery.

“We still carry this stuff with us,” Shaw says. He points out that since African Americans arrived in what is now the U.S., they have lived 90 percent of the time under either slavery or Jim Crow.

“And yet,” Shaw says, “we have that dishonest discourse that says ‘that’s history, that happened too long ago’—even though we embrace all kinds of things that happened a long time ago, including our Founding Fathers, and the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.”

Shaw points to disproportionate rates of poverty and incarceration, and educational inequalities as part of the continuing legacy that began with slavery. He says Douglass’ message resonates today because people of color are still fighting against the same forces of structural racism and discrimination Douglass spoke out against.

Shaw quotes Douglass: “Frederick Douglass said ‘if there is no struggle, there is no progress.’ He said ‘there is no negro problem,’ in the language of the time. He said the problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough and patriotism enough to live up to their own constitution,” Shaw says. “That’s what I think about on the Fourth of July. I think that’s what all Americans, not only African Americans, ought to think about on the Fourth of July.”