This Independence Day, pause to:
Watch James Earl Jones read Frederick Douglass’ speech.
Read the speech.
Participate in a live family-oriented program with historian David Blight on July 4 at 1 pm:
‘ “Douglass’s 4th of July speech of 1852 is the rhetorical masterpiece of American abolitionism. In a three-part structure, Douglass delivered a brilliant, Biblically inspired attack on American hypocrisy about slavery. He warned the country that if Americans did not face and solve the problem of slavery, as a system and an issue, it would destroy the nation. He wove this warning into unforgettable language. It is more than worth reading out loud today because the claims he makes about American hypocrisy still face us today in different if no less challenging forms.”
Join us online on July 4 at 1pm to hear excerpts from the speech and then discuss it with educators and other families.’ The New York Historical Society Museum and Library, History Detectives, http://historydetectives.nyhistory.org/2020/06/frederick-douglass-4th-july-historian-david-blight-great-abolitionist/