American Literature / Unit 9 AML 0808 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
Captions available
The idea
Invited to speak on Independence Day in eighteen fifty-two, Douglass told his audience the day was theirs and not his, that their shouts of liberty were hollow to a man in chains. The speech praises the founders and indicts their heirs.
In practice
Your celebration, not mine.
Where people slip
The compliment to the founders sharpens the attack.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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