A Monumental Reckoning Unravelling of America’s Untold Story of

Slavery

“This Fourth July is Yours, not Mine”

Frederick Douglas is one the famous abolitionist speakers, know for his famous speech
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” He was known as the victim of slavery and that too
generational slavery. He was pushed into the dark abyss of slavery at a very young age. It was
something around seven years old or so that he was parted from the family members. The
speech is one of the highlights of his lives which he spoke in the year 1852. He stood still to
speak upon the untold stories of slavery while the country The United States of America, was
about to celebrate the Independence Day. The country got independence in the year 1776
which was the result of the civil war. For the country it was a moment of pride and
glorification as the country stood strong even after so many years of independence. But the
speech made by Fredrick Douglas is something which according to him the world must know.

Douglas speaks that he is not content with the happiness and joy the country of mixed races
are celebrating because according to him the independence is solely of the White Americans.
The country was independent of the colonies of the British colonisers but the Blacks who
were still working as slaves were never independent. The slaves never ever got an
opportunity to speak for themselves because they had no voice. The country talks about
liberty, prosperity and inheritance of justice, but where are the justice of the slaves? That is a
pertinent though on the end of Douglas. He mentions that he and his men are not the part of
the glory of independence and surprisingly the country won’t even talk about it. Nobody will
talk about the disparity done to the slaves.

We can find a connection to this speech with the ongoing Confederate statue debate in the
United States. In this debate, the activists of the Black Lives Matter Movement are taking up
and initiative to get rid of the idols and statues of the people who are being worshipped on the
name of Civil Wars Martyr and so. According to them, the history is distorted and it only
narrates the story from the White Men’s perspective. The statues are of the people who were
an active participant of the slavery culture. They never rose their voices for the well-being
and the livelihood of the Blacks. They are saying that it is promoting racism in the
“independent” country of the United States. But at the same time this movement is discarded
by so many people because according to them they are trying to erase the history of war
veterans which is against the nationalism. This debate is creating a confusion in the minds of
the law makers that what should be the next step. The matter has gone into the court under the
section of promoting slavery by the activists of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

As we go through the speech of Douglas we find out that he is not frustrated but he is a sheer
victim of racism and slavery. He is the one who has to suffer through this most of his lives
and a sense of anguish, hurt and disgust comes out when he is giving the speech. We can’t say
that he is against the Fourth of July but all he wants to say is that “Is the country completely
independent for all the citizens” He is calling the nation hypocrite because he is not the one
who can actually celebrate the independence of the country because he for the most of his life
was enslaved.

The Confederate statue incident is something we can find connection to with the speech of
Frederick Douglas. He is calling the nation hypocrite because he is not the one who can
actually celebrate the independence of the country because he for the most of his life was
enslaved. We can find this that the hypocrisy of honouring the individuals who were the flag
bearers of slavery and supported racism by putting up a statue in their memory does not help
with the removal of disparity faced by all the citizens of the country.

Statues and monuments are not just a part of architectural aspect of a country but it is also
shapes the values and culture of the society and their presence gives out impactful messages
for the upcoming generation. So, if the truth is distorted it will give out wrong messages and
thus it is important to know the true significance. And we find this in the speech of Douglas
too where he talks about significance of the Fourth of July and how it has impacted the
history for the enslaved people.

Just how we see that Frederick made a speech talking about the abolition of slavery and
bringing equality in the country for the citizens similarly we can see that to some extent this
recontextualization of the statue can act as one of the many steps towards the social justice
and a fight against racism which is prevalent in the society. The people who were associated
with slavery and its oppression are finally going to be out of the picture if this is something
the entire nation stands for.