Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
Join us for a Public Reading of Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July Address
Event Details
Rain date: Sunday, July 6 at 11:00am
On the grounds of Historic Northampton
46 Bridge Street
Northampton MA
Get directions
- Registration not required
- Free and open to the public
Come to Listen, Come to Read
Reading Frederick Douglass Together brings people together to read aloud Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Come to listen or come to read a passage. Copies of Douglass’s speech will be distributed to all in attendance. The public can take turns reading passages from it in succession. This event is free and open to the public.
200 chairs will be available. Feel free to bring your own chair. The Northampton event is organized in collaboration with State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa.
Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene will give the opening and closing remarks. Power-Greene is chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission and professor of history at Clark University.
Historic Northampton received a Reading Frederick Douglass Together grant from Mass Humanities with funding made possible from the Mass Cultural Council. During the reading, the grounds are closed to dog walking. Service dogs only, please.
This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.
Read the full speech or watch a filmed reading
Background and Northampton Connection
Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and lived for many years in Massachusetts. He delivered the Fourth of July speech on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ powerful language, resolute denunciations of slavery, and forceful examination of the Constitution challenge us to think about the histories we tell, the values they teach, and if our actions match our aspirations. To quote Douglass, “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the future.”
The themes addressed in the speech still resonate with Americans more than 150 years after they were written. Now more than ever, the speech forces us to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the promises of democracy.
Frederick Douglass had strong ties to the abolitionist community, the Northampton Association of Education and Industry (1842-1846), and the African-American community in Florence which included David Ruggles, who assisted Douglass when he arrived in New York City via the “underground railroad.” Douglass spoke in Northampton and Florence about slavery and the abolitionist movement.
Event Sponsors & Partners
Reading Frederick Douglass Together is a statewide initiative coordinated by Mass Humanities. Now in its 16th year, the program will take place in communities across Massachusetts.
The Northampton event is funded by Mass Humanities and co-sponsored by State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa in partnership with:
- ACLU Massachusetts
- Academy of Music
- All Out Adventures
- A.P.E. Ltd. (Available Potential Enterprises)
- Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity
- Center for New Americans
- City of Northampton
- College Church
- Congregation B’nai Israel
- David Ruggles Center
- Daily Hampshire Gazette
- Downtown Northampton Association
- Edwards Church
- First Churches of Northampton
- Florence Congregational Church
- Forbes Library
- Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
- Greenfield Savings Bank
- Grow Food Northampton
- Hampshire County Food Policy Council
- Healthy Hampshire
- International Language Institute
- League of Women Voters (Northampton Area)
- Markham Nathan Fund
- Northampton’s Commission to Investigate Racialized Harms
- Northampton Center for the Arts
- Northampton Community Arts Trust
- Northampton Neighbors
- Northampton Open Media
- St. John’s Episcopal
- Smith College
- Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership
- Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee
- The Venture Out Project
- TransHealth
- Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence
- Ward 3 Neighborhood Association