Delivered July 5, 1852; Corinthian Hall; Rochester, New York Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I… Continue reading What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Author: Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) was a renowned American abolitionist, writer, orator, feminist, diplomat, and former slave. Born in Maryland, he escaped slavery at age 20 and fought tirelessly for justice until his death, at age 77. He was husband to Anna Murray-Douglass, a free black woman, for 44 years. Two years after Anna's passing, he married Helen Pitts, a white feminist. Douglass remarked that his first marriage had been to someone the color of his mother, and his second to someone the color of his father.