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


  • Freedom Rider: Campaign Confusion in the Age of Collapse
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Campaign Confusion in the Age of Collapse
    28 Oct 2020
    Biden always obliges Trump by denying that he will do anything that rank and file Democrats want and that would in fact increase his odds of winning.
  • COVID-19 Exposes Economic Misery as U.S. Capitalism’s “New Normal”
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    COVID-19 Exposes Economic Misery as U.S. Capitalism’s “New Normal”
    28 Oct 2020
    Neoliberal capitalism is incapable of containing the pandemic or facilitating an economic recovery for the masses.
  • Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
    28 Oct 2020
    Rhythms of red, white, blue ‘party’ lights flashing beneath screaming sirens; The rush of warm crimson drawing 2, 4, 6, 8, 10—and then some…
  • We’re All Living in a Future Created by Slavery
    Ameer Hasan Loggins
    We’re All Living in a Future Created by Slavery
    28 Oct 2020
    The carceral class is made up of persons of African descent who are systematically stigmatized as unfit for freedom and deserving of the dehumanization that comes with being incarcerated.
  • What the Political Realignment Suggest about the Prospects for Fascism 
    Ashton Rome
    What the Political Realignment Suggest about the Prospects for Fascism 
    28 Oct 2020
    The Democratic Party has seemingly accomplished the impossible – a revival of centrism in the midst of its collapse.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us