In 1852, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered what could be considered the best July Fourth oration ever given. In an address to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York, he heralded the great strides America had made up to that point but also warned that freedom was and would continue to be a work in progress. Read the whole speech below (text courtesy of the University of Rochester Frederick Douglass Project). He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling...
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