The Jamaica Plain community is invited to gather together to read and talk about Frederick Douglass’s influential address, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Find the text online here.

After escaping slavery in 1838, the famous abolitionist lived for many years in Massachusetts. The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ denunciations of slavery and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the stories we tell and don’t tell, the ideas that they teach or don’t teach, and the gaps between our actions and aspirations. To quote Douglass: “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future.”

A set of readers will each read a designated section of the speech out loud to participants.

Co-sponsors include: First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain, Centre-South Main Streets, Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club and the First Church in Jamaica Plain, Unitarian Universalist.

This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.