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
  • omnibus

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

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


  • Caitlin Johnstone
    AOC Is a Genocidal Con Artist
    23 Jul 2025
    She’s actively stopping American politics from moving any further left than the nightmare we see before us.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump's Concentration Camps Are Not New to the U.S.
    16 Jul 2025
    Outrage over ICE raids rings hollow while 2 million languish in prisons. America has always had concentration camps. We just reserve our anger for the ones with TV cameras.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EDITORIAL: After the Olympics: Buying off Protest, Harry Edwards, 1969
    16 Jul 2025
    “Racists don’t give up easily, we learned, and the racists in sports are especially dedicated.”
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Don’t point fingers. Don’t ask evil questions.
    16 Jul 2025
    "Don’t point fingers. Don’t ask evil questions." is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Said Bouamama Blog
    Settler Colonialism in light of F. Fanon: Algeria yesterday, Kanaky today... (Part 2)
    16 Jul 2025
    As settler-colonial violence escalates from Kanaky to Palestine, Fanon’s century-old warnings are critical today—capitalism’s genocidal expansion demands revolution.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us