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


  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    20 Jan 2021
    This week the uprising in Washington and Du Bois’s writings on the Soviet Union were on your mind.
  • BAR Book Forum: L.H. Stallings’ “Funk the Erotic”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: L.H. Stallings’ “Funk the Erotic”
    20 Jan 2021
    We need a different relationship to and with time and temporality to imagine new worlds and to begin bringing those new worlds into being.
  • BAR Book Forum: John Murillo III’s “Impossible Stories”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: John Murillo III’s “Impossible Stories”
    20 Jan 2021
    The author dissects Black time and space in order to better understand the nature and mechanics of Black life and death lived in the antiblack world.
  • Defund the Police is Not Abolition
    Greg Felton
    Defund the Police is Not Abolition
    20 Jan 2021
    In practice, defunding police leads to endless dickering with local politicians and allows reformists to present themselves as abolitionists.
  • The Crisis of White Squatters Rights
    Too Black
    The Crisis of White Squatters Rights
    20 Jan 2021
    The white ruling class is evicting the squatter-in-chief (Trump) for violating the class collaborative agreement.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us