Every year, as July 4 approaches, members of the Black world reflect on arguably Frederick Douglass’s most famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Interestingly enough, Douglass’s address, delivered in Rochester, New York, was delivered on July 5, 1852. But why?
It could have been that Douglass and event organizers were aware of the city’s and the nation’s history of anti-Black violence directed at Black people who sought to participate in Fourth of July festivities. However, Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton University professor and regular MSNOW commentator, offers a slightly different yet related take.
In his book, America U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, Glaude reveals that July 5 was a holiday celebrated by Black people in New York and several surrounding states. What was the significance of July 5, and why has it been forgotten? And what other holidays did our people celebrate annually that have somehow faded from our collective memory?
Defiant spirit of July 5
The origin of July 5 as a day of collective observance lies in the selective nature of American freedom.
“Since the end of slavery in New York on July 4, 1827, African Americans across more than five states celebrated what was called New York’s Abolition Day on July 5,” wrote Glaude. “It was an ironic commentary on the hypocrisy of Independence Day. The day after July Fourth offered something between a celebration, memorial, and critique. Decrying the nation’s hypocrisy, the Black community gathered to celebrate an idea of freedom that the nation refused to embrace.”
These gatherings were elaborate, public affairs featuring picnics, gun salutes, processions, and keynote addresses, typically delivered by Black preachers.
In 1827, Austin Steward delivered a July 5 address in Rochester, likening the plight of Black people in America to the people of God in Egypt. Twenty-five years to the day later, Douglass walked to the same Rochester podium. On July 5, 1852, amid fierce battles surrounding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Douglass exposed the lie of a nation’s celebration.
This deliberate choice to celebrate on July 5 was also a matter of survival. Black New Yorkers had vivid memories of the anti-Black rioting that frequently targeted their communities around the Fourth of July. During the “July Days” of 1834, a white mob postponed an integrated gathering, later attacking the Chatham Street Church and burning it down. The mob then destroyed the interior of St. Philip’s African Episcopal Church and terrorized Black homes, demanding that white families illuminate their windows so their homes would be passed over.
By celebrating on July 5, Black communities consciously chose true liberation over hypocrisy.
Power of reclaiming our calendar
Reclaiming these specialized days is more than an exercise in historical trivia.
Historian Naomi Carrier notes, “Choosing and celebrating our own holidays is how we take control of our freedom.”
Holidays serve as a vital psychological and cultural framework.
“Holidays are critically important for a people because they celebrate the values important to the group,” stated Menelik Kimathi, presiding bishop of the Shrine of the Black Madonna. “The values that are celebrated are the ones that become ingrained into the consciousness of a people.
“Choosing and celebrating our own holidays is how we take control of our freedom.”
Naomi Carrier, historian
“As Black people, we technically have no real holidays beyond Juneteenth and Kwanzaa. That means we’re not consciously emphasizing and passing down the values we as a people believe are critical to our thriving.”
Kimathi suggests that because all holidays are man-made, Black communities possess the agency to institutionalize days like Malcolm X Day, Rosa Parks Day, or Harlem Renaissance Day to spotlight values important to achieving a prosperous future.
Cultural artist Kijana Wiseman contends reclaiming past Black holidays is an act of “Sankofa.”
“You have to know your past so you don’t repeat your mistakes, and so you know which way you’re going into the future,” she said.
Wiseman uses performance art and historical music to ensure younger generations understand their ancestry, ensuring they know “they were not perennially supposed to be enslaved people.”
Jan. 1 and Aug. 1: Forgotten global milestones
Beyond regional Emancipation days, the nineteenth-century Black calendar featured profound global milestones. Jan. 1 was widely celebrated as a double victory for global Black liberation.
First, Jan. 1, 1808, marked the official end to the transatlantic slave trade in the U.S. Second, Jan. 1, 1804, marked Haitian Independence Day from France, establishing the Western Hemisphere’s first free Black republic.
Aug. 1 was another crucial date of international solidarity. On Aug. 1, 1834, slavery was officially abolished across the British Empire, freeing enslaved populations in the British West Indies. This day, known as Emancipation Day in the Caribbean, was widely celebrated by African diaspora communities in America as a beacon of hope for their own eventual liberation.
The ‘Second Juneteenth’ and Decoration Day
Even our celebrated holidays have layers that have been lost to time. University of Houston professor Dr. Gerald Horne contends that there is a “second Juneteenth” on June 19, 1867, that deserves equal recognition. In 1865, General Gordon Granger was accompanied by thousands of armed Black troops who waged a fierce war against enslavers refusing to acknowledge General Order No. 3, which was read in Galveston on June 19, 1865.
Two years later, these same Black troops saved the continent from a resurgent Confederacy. Armed ex-Confederates had fled to Mexico, plotting with the French puppet regime to retake Texas and restart the Civil War.
“And our ancestors who were armed helped to squash that particular plan. In fact… It’s not only June 19, 1865, that we should mark, but also June 19, 1867, because that’s when the French leader Maximillian was killed, which marks the end of the attempt to continue our enslavement in Mexico.”
Without this second victory, the promise of the first Juneteenth may have been utterly crushed.
Similarly, Decoration Day—the true predecessor to Memorial Day—has deep Black roots. It began on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, when formerly enslaved Black people gathered to properly bury and decorate the graves of fallen Union soldiers, creating a ritual of national remembrance.
A call for resurrection
Resurrecting these lost holidays is essential to restoring the full tapestry of Black resistance and joy. By re-establishing days like New York’s Abolition Day, various Emancipation Days, and more, the Black community can firmly anchor its contemporary struggles in a legacy of intentional, self-determined liberation.
