#july4th — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #july4th, aggregated by home.social.
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On July 5th 1852, exactly 174 years ago today, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at Corinthian Hall here in #RochesterNY, at a gathering of the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. His words were blunt and honest, pointing out the hypocrisy about the laudable ideals of liberty and justice promised in the Declaration of Independence. He forced his audience to confront the truth, that the high-minded assertion that "all men are created equal", was NOT actually being extended to all.
The speech is known under the title "What to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?" It is well worth reading again now, on this July 5th.
Here's the complete text of the speech, as published in a pamphlet at the time:
https://archive.org/details/Douglass_July_Oration/page/n1/mode/2up
And here are some central excerpts from the speech, read by some of Douglass's descendants:
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In honor of U.S. Independence Day, I decided to re-read the Declaration of Independence. This is well worth a read - these are powerful words that are as important and relevant now as when they were written 250 years ago. Here’s just a section of it; you can read the entire text at https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript (and be sure to vote this Fall!).
#DeclarationOfIndependence #IndependenceDay #4thofJuly #July4 #July4th #USElections #vote #VoteBlue #GetOutTheVote #GOTV
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Would you like to boost Democratic turnout for the Nov. US elections? Postcards to Swing States will send you FREE postcards (w/many states & House districts to choose from) + a short message to write to Dems who live in swing states & vote infrequently. You provide stamps, write/address the postcards & mail in Oct. Sign up at https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/
#IndependenceDay #4thofJuly #July4 #July4th #PostcardsToSwingStates #SwingStates #USElections #Democrats #vote #VoteBlue #GetOutTheVote #GOTV
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“What to the Slave is 4th of July?”:
James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic SpeechDemocracy Now! Youtube-channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0baE_CtU08
#July4th #frederickdouglass #democracynow -
CW: sexual assault, uspol, trump
"A former beauty queen who has alleged Jeffrey Epstein attempted to groom her at an event where she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump claims the president “threatened” her afterward, warning: “Bad things can happen to you if you speak out.” The former Miss Switzerland and Miss Europe contestant Beatrice Keul, 55, says she has since faced repeated threats to her safety"
https://thepunchup.substack.com/p/trump-allegedly-threatened-beauty
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If you want to hear the full text after watching these amazing young people, Democracy Now! has posted their annual YT video of the late James Earl Jones reading the full text, here:
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I have always loved James Earl Jones' delivery of this speech, but gog, this one hits so hard: a few young Frederick Douglass' descendants read excerpts from his, "What to the slave is the 4th of July?" speech.
