by J. Pharoah Doss
Over the last decade, just before Independence Day, Black intellectuals wrote opinion pieces about Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Every year, these Black intellectuals reminded Americans that Douglass exposed the hypocrisy of a country that celebrated liberty while maintaining the institution of slavery. During America’s 250th anniversary, many Black thinkers declared that Douglas’s speech is more relevant than ever under a Trump presidency.
Professor George Yancy remarked, “On this July 4, I will personally continue to confront the truth that Black people in this country continue to mourn and continue to suffer under anti-Blackness.” Bishop William J. Barber II suggested that this Fourth of July should be a time of contemplation, repentance, and resistance, much like Frederick Douglass believed.
If dissent is the highest form of patriotism, then we should embrace this type of Fourth of July commentary. However, on America’s 250th anniversary, maybe we should ask: What, to the modern-day slave, is the Fourth of July?
Martin Plaut’s 2025 essay, Slavery in Africa Today: A Crisis Ignored by Its Own Institutions, states that “Slavery persists in parts of Africa in brutal, dehumanizing forms. Men, women, and children are trafficked, sold, and inherited as property. The suffering is real and ongoing. What is perhaps more shocking, however, is not just that slavery exists but that powerful regional institutions, notably the African Union and the Arab League, have failed to confront it with the urgency and clarity it demands … Whether out of political calculation, denial, or fear of self-implication, the silence from these bodies has contributed to a vacuum of accountability—and allowed the ancient crime of slavery to persist in the modern era.”
If modern-day slaves could hear Douglass’s 1852 speech, it’s doubtful they would dwell on American hypocrisy. It’s most likely it would help them see how America progressed over time by putting the values outlined in its founding documents into practice.
Douglass stated that the Constitution is a glorious liberty document when interpreted as it ought to be. Examine its preamble and consider its goals. Is slavery among them? If the Constitution were intended to be, by its authors and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why aren’t the words “slavery,” “slaveholding,” or “slave” found anywhere in it? Douglass rejected the notion that the Constitution contained even one pro-slavery clause because, when read plainly, its principles and goals are hostile to the existence of slavery.
Douglass delivered his famous speech 76 years after the Founders signed the Declaration of Independence. Douglass noted that 76 years is old age for a man, but nations number their years in the thousands, and according to that fact, America is still in its childhood.
Douglass underlined that hope lay in the belief that America was still young. He argued that America was still at an impressionable stage of its existence and that the high lessons of wisdom, justice, and truth would guide the country’s destiny.
From the time the U.S. Constitution went into effect in 1789 to 1852, the federal government did not abolish slavery. Douglass’s question, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” was directed at the federal government for failing to extend liberty to all those under its jurisdiction. However, there was incremental progress at the state level to end slavery. Between 1776 and 1852, at least 11 states passed legislation abolishing slavery, either immediately or gradually.
Douglass was aware that the end of slavery in these states would direct the federal government’s destiny. A destiny forged by a bitter Civil War, erroneous Supreme Court judgments, segregation laws, and a Civil Rights Movement that forced the federal government to once again put into practice the true meaning of its creed as stated in its founding documents.
Achieving the American dream is characterized as having the opportunity to prosper, providing food and shelter for family members, educating children, and hoping for a better life for future generations.
Black Americans are not excluded from this chance.
In fact, Byron A. Ellis, Ph.D., managing director of the Jethro Project, reported that in 2022, the aggregate income of Black people in the United States exceeded the GDP of many countries around the world. If Black America were a country, its GDP would rank 60th in the world. Black intellectuals would dismiss that data and point out that Black income in America is unequal to White income. Therefore, America continues to violate the basic principles established in its founding documents.
These Black intellectuals fail to realize that modern-day African slaves compare themselves to Black Americans, not White Americans.
This leads us back to the original question: What, to the modern-day slave, is the Fourth of July?
The answer is simple: it serves as an annual reminder that freedom and a better life are both achievable, as demonstrated by Black Americans.
