[3] A Glimmer of Freedom in Academe
The acerbic blogger/ tweeter IowaHawk (aka, David Burge) describes college as “an oasis of totalitarianism in a desert freedom.” In recent years, campuses have grown hostile to free speech and other traditional American concepts of freedom. That sad fact makes it all the better when there’s an example to the contrary. Juliette Sellgren, a University of Virginia student wrote at The UnPopulist on two of Frederick Douglass’s speeches, given over half a century before Warren Harding’s speech (described above). Sellgren wrote:

In his most famous 1851 speech “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?”, Douglass called out American slavery as a grotesquely unconstitutional—and unjust—institution at odds with fundamental American values. He praised America’s commitments but denounced its hypocrisy, offering a respectful and respectable balance of patriotism and pushback, one that all Americans should strive for.

In a lesser-known—but no less important— speech reprinted below, “What the Black Man Wants,” delivered at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1865 just before the end of the Civil War—and one year before the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery—Douglass outlined the next step in the Black struggle for equality: universal suffrage.

[It’s an interesting way to integrate comments into commentary. We’ll see if Robert is onto something with it. Also, congratulations to Robert on his milestone in subscriptions. — Ed]