One hundred and sixty-eight years ago today Frederick Douglass gave his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, the product of a white male raping a Black woman.
White men raping Black women happened for centuries. Dutch artist, Christiaen van Coubwenberg, captures this in a painting completed in 1632. Note that the Dutch played a prominent role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
About William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters
William Eric Waters is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, essayist, educator, criminal-justice scholar, and nonprofit executive. Writing as William E. Waters, he is the author of the epic poem Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass and three poetry collections: Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Feminine Mystique, and The Black Blood of Poetry. Under the pen name Easy Waters, he is the author of the novel Streets of Rage and the short-story collection Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice. His work explores Black history, race, law, punishment, institutional power, accountability, redemption, and resilience.
William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters 