Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

"What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" read by Ossie Davis
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
01 Jul 2022
🖨️ Print Article

Black Agenda Radio · "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" read by Ossie Davis

On July 5, 1852 Frederick Douglass was asked to speak on the topic of the nation’s independence celebration. Now known as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?", the speech was a stinging indictment of slavery in the U.S., but the words are still relevant to Black people 170 years later. The late Ossie Davis read excerpts from Douglass’s remarks.

Slavery in U.S.
Frederick Douglass

Related Podcasts

Frederick Douglass
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
"What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" read by Ossie Davis
03 July 2024
As we grow closer to the Fourth of July, BAR once again shares
Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy
03 March 2023
Black Agenda Radio July 1, 2022
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 1, 2022
01 July 2022
We discuss reproductive justice in the wake of the supreme court ruling which overturned the Roe v. Wade decision.

More Stories


  • An Imperial Mindset Protects the Real Enemy of the People: U.S. Militarism
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    An Imperial Mindset Protects the Real Enemy of the People: U.S. Militarism
    25 Sep 2019
    The so-called left’s regurgitation of imperial talking points on Venezuela and Mugabe assists the billionaire ruling elite’s efforts to destroy any challenge to the rule of profit.
  • Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    BAR staff
    Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    25 Sep 2019
    Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
  • 2016 Revisited: Electronic Balloting Favored Clinton, Paper Balloting Sanders
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    2016 Revisited: Electronic Balloting Favored Clinton, Paper Balloting Sanders
    25 Sep 2019
    Investigators call it “strange patterns in data”— that saw Hillary Clinton win primaries with electronic ballots, and Bernie Sanders victorious in paper ballot states.
  • Save the Children..from maturity
    BAR Poet-in-Resident Raymond Nat Turner
    Save the Children..from maturity
    25 Sep 2019
    Why do I cry when I see sixteen year-olds Fearless and wise beyond their years, wielding swords of science—slaying share-  holders’ senators and clean-coal 
  • BAR Book Forum: Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi’s “BlackLife”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi’s “BlackLife”
    25 Sep 2019
    The book seeks to unmake the idea that Black people in Canada occupy some “special” place in diaspora.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us