'I Don't Do 'Presidents Day'...But Happy Birthday, Frederick Douglass!' Daily Kos
'I Don't Do 'Presidents Day'...But Happy Birthday, Frederick Douglas!' Daily Kos, Feb. 17, 2020. EXCERPTS:
(Author’s Note: Of course, you knew that today is Frederick Douglass’ birthday…right?…right?)
...This “holiday” was originally established in reverence to George, and was eventually expanded to include all presidents. The good news, though, is that February 17, this particular “Presidents Day,” happens to fall on a real American hero’s birthday, Frederick Douglass, a man whom everybody can honor without having to carry all that baggage accompanying those forty-five men we have experienced as “leaders.”
Thus, in honor of Douglass’ birth, I offer an analysis of his most famous and enduring speech.
~ "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."
~ Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852
Of course, you knew today was Frederick Douglass’ birthday, right...right?
By far and without question, Frederick Douglass was the most famous and effective anti-slavery orator and abolitionist of the 19th century. His rise from escaped slave to foreign ambassador, Marshal of Washington, D.C., and advisor to presidents, is well documented in both his own writings and within whole sections of libraries, films and university courses devoted to his remarkable life. Douglass set the pattern for all future national black American leaders who would follow over the next 100 years. Thus, I will not dwell on Douglass’ personal history here. Rather, I hope to provide a fresh look at perhaps Douglass’ most famous speech and its continuing relevance to contemporary America.
Douglass’ speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” was presented in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852. It has come down to us as a classic in rhetoric, oratory and literature...
Read More, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/17/1919864/-Forget-Presidents-Day-Happy-Birthday-Frederick-Douglass?utm_campaign=spotlight
- Frederick Douglass in 1852 and 1895 (just before his death).
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Whenever February comes around I reflect on this part of our history. When I was in grade school I remember reading about several African Americans who had achieved great things and I thought that was normal. When I moved to a new region I found out differently but I always remembered Frederick Douglass and in several grades our reading books as well as some history books covered them.
And still, I kept thinking it was someone's birthday that I should remember...
Thanks for the reminder! 
Yikes, how did we get here?
And crazy people end up in really random places 
Matter of fact, I'm not even sure if any of this is real ...
At least we have company. 
