On this day, 174 years ago, Frederick Douglass delivered his speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? On July 3, 2026, just before America’s 250th birthday, for the first time, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley delivered Douglass’ speech on the House floor.

Douglass, one of the great orators in American history, delivered this speech thirteen years before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. This speech is one of the greatest in American history, and is worth quoting in many respects, beginning with:

. . . The simple story of it is, that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects . . . You were under the British Crown . . . But, your fathers . . . They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to . . . To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy . . . but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men’s souls . . . On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay
of the lovers of ease, and the worshippers of property . . . in the form of a resolution . . . it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. “Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.” Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. They succeeded; and to-­‐day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation’s history—the very ring-­‐bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny . . .

Douglass goes on to speak about the hypocrisy of American revolutionaries and their descendants. Nonetheless, Douglass predicted that slavery in America would not last much longer. Despite his scathing speech, Douglass concluded on a hopeful note. His hopefulness is like a strand of DNA running through the gene pool of the descendants of the Africans brought to the colony of Virginia in August 1619.

Just before the nation’s 200th birthday, on February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford issued a message recognizing Black History Month, becoming the first President to do so. In his message, President Ford called upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Douglass’ speech should be required reading in school, for any politician who takes the oath of office, and for people who become U.S. citizens.