Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
Join us for a Public Reading of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
Satuday, July 5, 2025 at 11 am
Rain Date: Sunday, July 6, 2025 at 11 am
Rain Date: Sunday, July 6, 2025 at 11 am
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Reading Frederick Douglass Together brings people together to read aloud Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Come to listen or come to read a passage. Copies of Douglass’s speech will be distributed to all in attendance. The public can take turns reading passages from it in succession. This event is free and open to the public. 200 chairs will be available. Feel free to bring your own chair. The Northampton event is organized in collaboration with State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa.
Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene will give the opening and closing remarks. Power-Greene is chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission and professor of history at Clark University. Historic Northampton received a Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant from Mass Humanities with funding made possible from the Mass Cultural Council. During the reading, the grounds are closed to dog walking. Certified service dogs only, please.
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"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."
Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and lived for many years in Massachusetts. He delivered the Fourth of July speech on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ powerful language, resolute denunciations of slavery, and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the histories we tell, the values they teach, and if our actions match our aspirations. To quote Douglass, “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future.”
The themes addressed in the speech still resonate with Americans more than 150 years after they were written. Now more than ever, the speech forces us to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the promises of democracy.
Frederick Douglass had strong ties to the abolitionist community, the Northampton Association of Education and Industry (1842-1846) and the African-American community in Florence which included David Ruggles, who assisted Douglass when he arrived in New York City via the "underground railroad." Douglass spoke in Northampton and Florence about slavery and the abolitionist movement.
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all
other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."
- Frederick Douglass, 1852
other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."
- Frederick Douglass, 1852
Reading Frederick Douglass Together is a statewide initiative coordinated by Mass Humanities.
Now in its 16th year, the program will take place in communities across Massachusetts.
www.masshumanities.org
Now in its 16th year, the program will take place in communities across Massachusetts.
www.masshumanities.org
The Northampton event is funded by Mass Humanities and
co-sponsored by State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa in partnership with:
co-sponsored by State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa in partnership with:
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Photographs of the Northampton Reading Frederick Douglass Together event in 2022 by Paul Shoul.