Former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglas offered his own critique of the July Fourth holiday, from the perspective of the slave.
President Abraham Lincoln believed depriving the south of its slaves was key to winning the Civil War.
Founding Father James Madison prided himself on not holding slaves, as many of his fellow Founders, including Thomas Jefferson, did. His critique of slavery was one of the harshest of any Founder.
Thurgood Marshall, who successfully argued the Brown vs. Board of Education case and later became the first black Supreme Court Justice, was very much aware of the continued existence of racial prejudice.
Rev. Martin Luther King’s famed “I have a dream” speech opened with a harsh critique of America’s founding promise, which he deemed “not fulfilled” for black Americans.
Liberal clergyman Henry Ward Beecher offered one of the harshest critiques of southern slavery recorded during the 19th century.
Chris Rock came under fire Wednesday for a July 4th tweet in which he wished America a “Happy white peoples independence day,” adding: “the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.” Conservatives pounced on the comment, and some even threatened a boycott of Rock’s movies (does the zebra in Madagascar truly have to suffer?”
TheGrio: Chris Rock in July 4th Twitter trouble
Rock’s sentiments reflect the more complicated view of America’s founding fathers held by many African-Americans, many of whom are hard pressed to forget that at the same time the Founders were vying for freedom for the British colonies, Americans held hundreds of thousands of Africans as slaves. Rock clearly isn’t the first person — black or white — to express such mixed sentiments about America’s founding. So what might July 4th look like if Twitter had existed back to the early days of the Republic?
