In 1852 while
Africans in America were held in slavery, African American abolitionist/activist
Frederick Douglass was
invited to speak at a July 4, 1852,
celebration in Rochester, N.Y. As the keynote speaker for the American Independence Day celebration Frederick Douglass famously asked the white audience: “Do you
mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?” He bravely and
honestly informed them: “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may
rejoice, I must mourn.”
Murphy Browne ©
Monday, February 17, 2014
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?
I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the
gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your
celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national
greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless;
your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and
equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and
thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere
bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up
crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the
earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the
United States, at this very hour.”
Excerpt from speech
given by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event
commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence held at
Rochester's Corinthian Hall.
In his 2010 published book “The State of the
American Mind: Stupor and Pathetic Docility Volume II” African professor Amechi
Okolo has included this information about Douglass’ July 5, 1852 speech: “On
July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of
the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall. It was
biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of
July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked
them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak
to-day?"”
During this month of
February when many acknowledge/celebrate the contributions, culture and history
of Africans there are several events around and about the city, the province
and the country. At these events oftentimes Africans are invited to speak. I
say “oftentimes” because even though this is supposed to be Black History
Month/African History Month/African Liberation Month you will find that
sometimes the speaker can by no stretch of the imagination be described as
African or Black. Take for instance Tim Wise a White man who is considered an
authority on anti-racism and is invited to speak at Black History Month events.
On such occasions I am reminded of Fredrick Douglass’ July 5, 1852 speech. In
that speech Douglass took to task the White people who were so insensitive as
to invite a formerly enslaved African to hopefully give a glowing speech in
praise of American Independence when slavery as an institution was very much a
part of the American society. Similarly it is at least insensitive to invite a
White person who would never have experienced what it is to be an African
living in a White supremacist culture to speak at a Black History Month event.
Black History Month/African History
Month/African Liberation Month began as Negro History Week in 1926. This month
was chosen by Carter Godwin Woodson because he wanted to honour Frederick
Douglass who chose February 14 as his birth date. Douglass like many other
enslaved Africans did not have their birth date documented. Douglass chose
February 14 because he remembered his mother referring to him as her little
“Valentine.” Douglass thought that he was born on February 14, 1818 but there
is no documentation of his birth. In his autobiography Douglass wrote: “I was
born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton in
Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having
seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves
know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of
most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not
remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom
come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time,
or fall-time.” Douglass wrote in his autobiography that he only saw his mother
about four or five times in his life before she transitioned when he was 7
years old. She was sold when he was an infant and would walk about 12 miles to
see her child because she was sold to people who lived in the same area. Many
enslaved Africans never saw their children or other relatives once they were
sold. In “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave,
Written by Himself” which was first published in 1845 Douglass wrote: “It is a
common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children
from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has
reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some
farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an
old woman, too old for field labor.”
In his autobiography
Douglass wrote about the horrors of slavery he had witnessed as a child as an
adult. Douglass wrote about witnessing his aunt being brutalized by the White
man who enslaved many of his relatives: “He was a cruel man, hardened by a long
life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping
a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most
heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a
joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.
No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron
heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped;
and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to
make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by
fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin.” Douglass’
autobiography was used by abolitionists and the anti-slavery movement in which
he was very actively involved. He is credited with playing a major role in the
eventual abolition of slavery in the USA.
Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20,
1895) was an abolitionist, human rights and women’s rights advocate. He was
definitely a man before his time. When the history of the abolition movement is
written the heroes are invariably White. Not surprising as Chinua Achebe, the
late Igbo author is famous for this quote: “Until the lions have their own
historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Fortunately Douglass wrote his autobiography and much of his work is archived
at the American Library of Congress. It is important for us to know our history
not only during February but very day. Because our names and languages were
taken away from us during the centuries of enslavement many Africans in the
Diaspora are lost and disconnected. Now is a good time to start reconnecting.
Attend African History events and read, read, read!!
Murphy Browne ©
Monday, February 17, 2014
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