Each year on the Fourth of July, the Edgartown Federated Church hosts a reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro.
More than 40 volunteers took turns Tuesday morning, reciting sections of the over 10,000 word address that Frederick Douglass first delivered to the Rochester Sewing and Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852.
On the fifth anniversary of the Federated Church’s dedication as part of The African-American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard, 14 Island residents gathered in the space to recite Frederick Douglass’s speech What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Frederick Douglass died over 100 years ago, but his words were very much alive Saturday at the Federated Church in Edgartown.
This Saturday, the pioneering abolitionist, feminist and master orator visits the Tabernacle stage again, in Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man show, Frederick Douglass Now.
Each year on the Fourth of July, the Edgartown Federated Church hosts a reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro.
The following is excerpted from a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852.
