What to the [Black Man] is Fourth of July?

July 4th 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed into action. 244 years since the signing of that document America continues to celebrate this momentous occasion with passionate patriotism and jubilee. But please forgive me if I’m not walking around clad in American flag paraphernalia to celebrate. Therefore, in the spirit of the good brother Frederick Douglass, I’m speaking out on the 5th.

As we learned on Juneteenth, African people were still enslaved until 1865, 89 years post Declaration of Independence. So when the founding fathers wrote the preamble to the Declaration of Independence were ALL men truly created equal in their eyes?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”

Excerpt from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence

Frederick Douglass said it best on July 5th 1852, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass does an amazing job at pointing out the hypocrisy in the declaration of “unalienable rights” and values of, liberty, citizenship, and FREEDOM for ALL men as an entire group of people remained enslaved. An entire group of people unable to attain, liberty, citizenship, or freedom for another 89 years.

To learn more about Frederick Douglass’ speech check out these links!
+ https://www.npr.org/2020/07/03/884832594/video-frederick-douglass-descendants-read-his-fourth-of-july-speech
+ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927.html
+ https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/nations-story-what-slave-fourth-july
+ https://www.google.com/amp/s/time.com/5614930/frederick-douglass-fourth-of-july/%3famp=true

Don’t worry, there are still many things to celebrate on the 4th. We can’t let a good day off of work go to waste now can we? I celebrate the founding of my Alma-mater, Tuskegee University, July 4th 1881.