“Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!” To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.”

We attended a reading of Frederick Douglass’ “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” this afternoon. While knowing a bit about it before hand and having read some excerpts, it was eye opening to hear it read aloud. This was the 14th annual reading here at Inkwell beach, but it was the first time I had heard about it. We will definitely be revisiting this reading next 7/4, if not before then.

Full text can be found here: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/douglassjuly4.html