Frederick Douglass Communal Reading 2020 Worcester was funded by Mass Humanities and was recorded at WCCA TV Ch 194 Worcester. What to the Slave is 4th of July?
It is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history, delivered at a Rochester, N.Y. Independence Day event in 1852 by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. "It is the birthday of your national independence, and of your political freedom," he said, noting, "The distance between this platform and the slave plantation from which I escaped is considerable."
Across Massachusetts,communities come together to read the speech aloud during the July Fourth holiday. The tradition started 11 years ago. This was produced by Cedric Arno with WCCA TV.