Seventy-five years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a civil rights leader (long before the term came en vogue in the 1960s) stood up before a crowd in 1852 and said, “this Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn…. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?”

That leader, Frederick Douglass, was reminding us then, and to a certain degree now, that although it’s important to celebrate our nation’s birthday, it’s equally important to put it into proper context from an African-American perspective. […..]

Read: http://thegrio.com/2013/07/04/frederick-douglass-…

Frederick Douglas- July 5, 1852: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"

Full Read: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/docume…