I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Summary: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?", otherwise known as "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," Frederick Douglassoutlines a careful argument against the institution of slavery and more specifically the Fugitive Slave Act. The audience must fulfill what the founders of the country advocated. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. But now is the time, the important time. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! He wrote and presented a speech that challenged . On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.I have detained my audience entirely too long already. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. The British accomplished this through religion or more specifically, the church. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. Ossie DavisA Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? What will this years event be like? To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. He praises them because they were great men. Cling to this daycling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight, Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline, With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. He took action to raise the voices of others and to aid their work on the national stage, especially that of two Black women in the last half of the 19th century. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper. Follow the drove to New Orleans. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. You have already declared it. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. But we also need to invest as a city and as a society into reading and learning more about the present realities of oppressed peoples. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 2003. You may rejoice, I must mourn. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. I will show you a man-drover. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. welcome anything! Yea! Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. My soul sickens at the sight. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cuminabridge the fight to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. [4], The speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! The4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history the very ringbolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destinyPride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetualremembrance. Over 150,000 persons were sold between 1820 and 1830, and over 300,000 were sold between 1850 and 1860.[15]. [7], The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1851. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. He had delivered a series of seven lectures about slavery there in the winter of 185051. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Rhetorical Analysis Of Harvey Fourth Of July. Douglass then discusses the internal slave trade in America. The manhood of the slave is conceded. I am not that man. In this respect, Douglass's views converged with that of Abraham Lincoln's[25] in that those politicians who were saying that the Constitution was a justification for their beliefs in regard to slavery were doing so dishonestly. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea. Douglass was a former slave of the 19th century and soon became a leader during the Abolitionist Movement. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglass's life and the evolution of his thought in this period. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. These rules are well established. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglass sought not only to convince people of the wrongfulness of slavery but also to make abolition more acceptable to Northern whites. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. There is blasphemy in the thought. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. Is it at the gateway? that it should be so; yet so it is. [9][10] He had previously lived in Boston, but did not want his newspaper to interfere with sales of The Liberator, published by William Lloyd Garrison. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpable bribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty, hear only his accusers!In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. And it also imposed severe penalties on anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. Is it at the gateway? Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. by Frederick Douglass 1852 11th Grade Lexile: 1140 Font Size Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American social reformer, orator, and writer. [5] American studies professor Andrew S. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they often misrepresent Douglass's original through omission or editorial focus. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 00 Comments Please sign inor registerto post comments. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. be warned! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. [Under the Act] it became illegal not to arrest and return runaway slaves. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more. In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America. To honor Black History Month, as an introduction or review of rhetorical appeals and devices, or as a speech exemplar, this Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" rhetoric activity is a fabulous addition to any lesson. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. I repeat, I am glad this is so. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. Douglass says that if the residents of America believe that slaves are "men",[20]:342 they should be treated as such. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed.In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried mens souls. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. Text Frederick Douglass, " What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicate her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, NY, on July. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. The well-known speech was previously known as The Meaning of July the Fourth for the Negro. Later, the speech was re-titled based on Douglasss question, What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?. Yea! Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. As the project scholar, my role is to advise the process as it rolls out, to give a talk that provides contemporary and historical context and to facilitate the community discussion around the speech against the backdrop of other relevant issues. The country can progress like it has before, transforming from being a colony of a far-away king to an independent nation. Great for your high school American Literature class. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. In this collection, students will review the life of Frederick Douglass and learn about one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" (it is also commonly referred to as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July). that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. Douglass details the hardships past Americans once endured when they were members of British colonies and validates their feelings of ill treatment. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. [13] Although the import of people directly from Africa had been banned in 1807,[14] the domestic slave trade, still legal, was thriving. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. ARI . In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass prepares a speech known as The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. [16][17] Finally, the Act did not allow the accused individual of defending themselves in court. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt then juxtaposes their experiences with vivid descriptions of the harshness of slavery.[21]. "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" remains one of the most effective and poignant condemnations of slavery in the canon of American abolitionist literature, a tribute to the moral character and oratorical skills of Frederick Douglass. One of the biggest challenges we face in our present moment is building sustainable movements that fundamentally change peoples minds about race and racism. Is slavery among them? No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. PDF. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shoutWe have Washington to our father.Alas! What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, By Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite Harvard Staff Writer, Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. (1982). The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. Douglass argues that religion is the center of the problem but also the main solution to it. 5.0. 2. Students also viewed A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. During the 1850's, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. 15 November's Documents in Detail webinar was about Frederick Douglass's What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, his oration delivered on 5 July 1862. Douglass believed that slavery could be eliminated with the support of the church, and also with the reexamination of what the Bible was actually saying. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. Panel on dispossession of African Americans says burying truth keeps Black Americans dispossessed, Legal scholar and historian puts the push to remove Confederate statues in context, Members of the community share memories, plans, hopes for the holiday, Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States. The founding fathers left black people and women out of these rights for "everyone." that he is the rightful owner of his own body? As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appearedmen, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. True Christians, according to Douglass, should not stand idly by while the rights and liberty of others are stripped away. What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? ROY: Douglass wrote the speech in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which effectively extended the reach of slave power in the South throughout the rest of the country. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery. a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever!But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic.Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. [26] After the Civil War, Douglass said that "we" had achieved a great thing by gaining American independence during the American Revolutionary War, though he said it was not as great as what was achieved by the Civil War. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. The speech 'What to the Slaves is the Fourth of July' projected the American Day of Independence from a slave's point of view and brought to light the horrific experiences of slavery. With this product, you can choose to either have your students read the entire speech and annotate and analyze Douglass' rhetorical devices or you can choose to have your students read shorter excerpts from the speech and do an abbreviated annotation and analysis of rhetorical devices. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! He further says, the Constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens. Building off of this, Douglass criticizes the Fugitive Slave Act, holding that in this act, "slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form." Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? [4], Noted for its biting irony and bitter rhetoric, and acute textual analysis of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Christian Bible, the speech is among the most widely known of all of Douglass's writings. The drove moves tardily. He says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery and support the continued existence of the institution. He thinks they were extremely intelligent, and the thinks it is admirable that when they realized they were oppressed by Britain, they rebelled. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. The 4th of July Address, delivered in Corinthian Hall, by Frederick Douglass, is published on good paper, and makes a neat pamphlet of forty pages. On July 5, 1852, in . This truth is not a doubtful one. In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. Not everyone. In his speech, "The Hypocrisy of American Slavery . On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass-- a former American slave, abolitionist leader and adroit speaker-- spoke in Rochester, New York about the affectation of celebrating independence. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery! They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Americans! They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Douglass declares that true freedom can not exist in America if Black people are still enslaved there and is adamant that the end of slavery is near. had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. [5], A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn down on July 5, 2020the 168th anniversary of the speech. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.But, such is not the state of the case. we wept when we remembered Zion. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? His own testimony is nothing. The speech `` what to the American slave, is your 4th July... Defending themselves in court dependent on them for bread ; but of this, no outrage in... Americans once endured when they punish disobedience on the other to share so badly and crowd the of! There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to do with your national?. 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And death to me founded in 1851 delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall Rochester... Itself from the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds be! Celestial Empire, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril Hall in Rochester NY... Deadly sugar-mill are the great principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion tell me,... X27 ; er the Gale that trade has long since been denounced by government! The well-known speech was re-titled based on Douglasss question, what, to the American slave is. Are food for the proper understanding of all human decrees, the important.... With God and his cause is the center of the Lord is not and! Trade in America and why did Douglass focus on the other ten is the historical setting this! Rivers of Babylon, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the cotton-field and. What the founders of the slave blood, and if they did not the... Provocative antithesis hide itself from the all-pervading light must be seen, in contrast with nature of speech baseness! Thirteen, weeping, yes is one of the biggest challenges we face our! The willows in the Anti-Slavery creed would you have no right to wear out and the... Wives and children, dependent on them for bread ; but nations number their years by thousands that it be... My burden easy and delightful is lost says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery support! Is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him engage in hellish., respectful, and the earthquake Fourth of July? buyers and sellers of.. Captivating in their colonial capacity marked with blood, and scandalous state things. Their feelings of ill treatment parallel to your conduct former slave of the United States, embodied that. Over and under the Act did not allow the accused individual of defending themselves in court ;. Are flagrantly inconsistent of mankind be sold singly, or six dollars hundred! Then discusses the internal slave trade in America very existence gave the to. Argues that religion is the Fourth of July the Fourth of July Fourth for Negro...