Douglass delivered his “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech July 5, 1852, at the historic Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. The Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society had invited Douglass to speak on the Fourth of July, but he declined because, as he explained to an audience of roughly 600 free, white people:
“The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine.”
In what some historians consider the greatest antislavery speech, Douglass cited the Bible, evoked Shakespeare and touted the Constitution as a “glorious liberty document” that is “entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.”
“He’s trying to puncture this American hypocrisy of how you could have such a huge and growing slave system and (a) society that says it’s dedicated to liberty and to freedom and even to equality,” said David Blight, a history professor at Yale and author of the Pulitzer-prize winning biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.”
Despite being nearly 170 years old, Douglass’ speech still lives in American public consciousness. It’s often quoted and recited at this time of year. Leading Douglass scholars spoke with USA TODAY about what motivated Douglass to deliver such a scathing critique of America.