#David blight fredrick douglass full#

Before we get to the episode, here's a recording of actor, Ozzie Davis, reading an excerpt from the speech courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. This week's episode is about Frederick Douglass' speech 'What to the Slave is the 4th of July'. Jackie McDermott: Hi, We The People listeners I'm Jackie McDermott the show's producer. This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future. Please subscribe to We the Peopleand L ive at the National Constitution Center on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. Ĭontinue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at. Research was provided by Nicholas Mosvick and Lana Ulrich. This episode was engineered by the National Constitution Center's AV team and Jackie McDermott, and produced by Jackie McDermott.

Lincoln and the American Foundingby Lucas Morel.

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedomby David Blight.

Video of a reading of the speech by Phil Darius Wallace, US National Archives.

Ossie Davis reading the speech, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

#David blight fredrick douglass full#

Full text of 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?'.

Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S.

He is the author of the new book Lincoln and the American Founding and of numerous scholarly articles on Frederick Douglass.

Lucas Morel is Professor of Politics and Head of the Politics Department at Washington and Lee University. The book has been optioned by Higher Ground Productions and Netflix for a forthcoming feature film.

He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. They discuss the context and content of the speech, which Blight calls “the rhetorical masterpiece of abolition.” They also explore Douglass’ views of the Declaration of Independence-including that the principles expressed in the Declaration are eternal, but America does not live up to them in practice-as well as the Constitution. Finally, they reflect on what Douglass can teach us about the challenges America faces today, including the ongoing fight for racial justice and efforts to remove monuments around the country.ĭavid Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale.

Douglass opted to speak on July 5 instead, and, addressing an audience of about 600, he delivered one of his most iconic speeches that would become known by the name “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” This episode explores Douglass’ oration on racial injustice and the broken promises of equality and liberty laid out in the Declaration of Independence. David Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning Douglass biographer, and Lucas Morel, an expert on Douglass and African American history and politics, join host Jeffrey Rosen. In 1852, the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York, invited Frederick Douglass to give a July Fourth speech.