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


  • Black People Don’t Need Bill Cosby’s Kind of “Race Man”
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Black People Don’t Need Bill Cosby’s Kind of “Race Man”
    26 Sep 2018
    Cosby represents a Black American political right wing whose views of the Black poor are just as crude and dehumanizing as their white counterparts.
  • Standing with Julian Assange
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Standing with Julian Assange
    26 Sep 2018
    Pacifica radio stations are known as havens for leftwing thought and action, but the Berkeley station and the national Pacifica board have yet to come to the defense of Wikileak’s Julian Assange.
  • Freedom Rider: World War Dangers in Syria
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: World War Dangers in Syria
    26 Sep 2018
    Israel has bombed Syria at will, apparently with Russian permission, but that may change after the downing of a Russian plane.
  • What Syria Continues to Teach Us
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    What Syria Continues to Teach Us
    26 Sep 2018
    Leftists should turn their attention to the New Guard Fascists -- the enemies of the people at the top of the class structure and the armed body, the state, that protects the class structure.
  • Death of a Torturer
    Ramsin Canon
    Death of a Torturer
    26 Sep 2018
    Jon Burge gleefully coerced confessions from black men to get them convicted of crimes they often hadn’t committed and keep them in cages for the rest of their lives.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us