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


  •  Community Control of Police Advocates Poised to Win in Chicago
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Community Control of Police Advocates Poised to Win in Chicago
    25 May 2021
    A solid majority of the Chicago Board of Aldermen, including all the major caucuses, now supports a version of community control of police, said Frank Chapman, executive director o
  • Freedom Rider: The Palestine Litmus Test
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Palestine Litmus Test
    19 May 2021
    President Joe Biden continues to proclaim endless support of apartheid Israel, but millions have decided that defense of Palestinian rights and lives is the only civilized response to barbaric aggr
  • Poem: June Jordan, Moving towards Home, 1982
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Poem: June Jordan, Moving towards Home, 1982
    19 May 2021
    Seventy-three years after the Nakba began, the Zionists continue their land and rights thievery, to which June Jordan, the Black American poet, bore powerful witness.
  • The Hoops and the Hype: Basketball Africa League Debuts
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Hoops and the Hype: Basketball Africa League Debuts in Rwanda
    19 May 2021
    The decision to debut the Basketball Africa League in Rwanda is a huge public relations coup for totalitarian, war criminal, and US military partner Paul Kagame, writes Ann Garrison.
  • Herd impunity?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Herd impunity?
    19 May 2021
    What if a colonial settler state accidentally vaccinated 61% of its population With a virulent variant of a vicious virus?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us