From The Marshall Project:
On July 5, 1852, the formerly enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered his scathing Independence Day speech about the paradox of patriotism in an America that had passed its second federal Fugitive Slave Act. This notorious 1850 legislation required law enforcement to arrest people they suspected of escaping slavery, on even the thinnest of evidence. It also made feeding and sheltering runaways a crime punishable by six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
After praising the “the truly great” and “brave” signers of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass asked his Rochester, New York, audience one of the most memorable rhetorical questions in U.S. history:
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” (His answer: “a sham…” “an unholy license…” “hollow mockery…” “mere bombast, fraud, deception and hypocrisy...”)
Inspired by Douglass’ famous question, 20 people ensnared in this country’s sprawling criminal legal system answered this variation of it:“What, to the currently or formerly incarcerated American, is your Fourth of July?”
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