On July 5, 1852, when the barbaric institution of slavery still plagued this land, Frederick Douglass, a prominent Black abolitionist born a slave, delivered one of his most famous speeches: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
The words Douglass offered were a harsh — and righteous — criticism of a country, claiming to uphold equality and justice for all, that still relegated African Americans from birth to the lifelong bondage of slavery.
“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,” Douglass said. “To him, your celebration is a sham.”
Now in 2026, at the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass’ words from 174 years ago still ring true.
What to the immigrant — who is brutally separated from their family, including here in Hamilton County, and relegated to a civil detention system that gives them no meaningful rights — is the Fourth of July?