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Happy 4th of July — Frederick Douglass speech, as read by James Earl Jones

msjadeli
I am proud to be an American.

It doesn’t mean I like everything my nation has done or does.  It means I maintain hope that we can do better.

Frederick Douglass is one of the most eloquent, articulate writers I’ve come across.  His autobiography needs to be required reading in every school’s curriculum.  To read this book and then to reconcile it with how maliciously and meticulously maligned blacks have been portrayed and treated over the years would bring such dissonance to a young person’s mind the spell of institutionalized racism would be neutralized.

I weep at the thought of all that has come before.  Please, let’s do better  — NOW and from now on.

from the youtube notes:

On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, [Frederick Douglass] gave one of his most famous speeches, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States.”

 

Update:  I found this very stirring youtube of the descendants of Mr. Douglass reading the speech:

Published by msjadeli

mother, gardener, retired government worker, observer, reader, learner, bicyclist, woman who runs with the wolves, lover of music!

29 thoughts on “Happy 4th of July — Frederick Douglass speech, as read by James Earl Jones”

      1. The only thing is, it was years ago, so I’m gonna have to refresh myself on Wikipedia. I know back in the day I read some Marcus Garvey too, people who actually advocated separation by going back to Africa. I can see why people thought like that but it was never a view I held myself.

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        1. I can imagine there would be many who would say enough of this bs I want to be treated like a human being, at least back then. Now we are all Americans, so am guessing not many feel that way today. I’m part Irish, English, and German but American first.

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        1. They’re all a bunch of crooks these days. Our one decent choice, Bernie Sanders, was cheated by the democrats again. Now we have a choice between a monster and a dementia ditz (nothing against anyone with dementia, but not for president!)

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          1. I think I agree, but I wouldn’t really be so bold enough to comment. From this distance, I’d have put Sanders over Biden, too. In the UK, we drow up thinking that the US just has two right-wing parties and I don’t think that’s a bad approximation. I’ve got a post part-prepared on this, what I think is the path back into power.

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  4. Martin Luther King Jr wanted equality…no more no less and that to me is the most important thing…not to see color but a person.

    I could hear Jones read anything.

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        1. Yes, it is.
          He moved to MI to live with his grandparents at age 5. From the day he entered school and until he got to high school his stutter caused him to stop speaking. He did not speak from kindergarten and until he got to high school!!!!!! I need to see if he’s written an autobiography. I would love to read it.

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          1. That would be a cool book….The only thing I know about him is he was going to turn down Star Wars until his wife stepped in.

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