Reading Frederick Douglass

“He had an enormous ability to capture in words the meaning of what America is about,” muses David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass’ Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee, in a Biography Channel video on Douglass. One example of the abolitionist orator’s enduring impact is “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro.” The former slave delivered this fiery speech on July 5, 1852, in response to an invitation to speak at a commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In public-participation events in Burlington and around the state, Vermonters give voice to the hard-hitting piece advocating for freedom, equality and an end to slavery.