Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Black Agenda Report July 4th Special Issue
The Editors
01 Jul 2026
🖨️ Print Article
George Washington

“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” - Frederick Douglass 1852 speech 

In what is perhaps his most famous speech, Frederick Douglass asked, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” That question can still be asked today by Black people in this country who are technically free. Yet in 2026 the United States has the largest population of unfree people than any other country in the world – and half of those who are incarcerated,  in modern-day bondage, are Black and are forced to work without compensation. That fact is just one indicator of why, like Frederick Douglass, we mourn instead of rejoicing.

In that 1852 speech Douglass declared, “America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.” The Black Agenda Report editorial team acknowledges his prescience in knowing that the United States would still be false to its people and their history in 2026. This year, July 4th marks the 250th year after enslaving, genociding colonizers declared themselves to be independent of Britain.

They did so because the British Crown decreed they could not expand their colonies beyond the Appalachian Mountains and because they feared that slavery might be abolished. The men who in the Declaration of Independence railed against what they referred to as tyranny were very eager to inflict tyranny on other people as they embarked on a sick fantasy of stealing indigenous land and increasing the territory available for a plantation economy which needed the labor of enslaved people.

The narrative of praising evil deeds is still strong, as Barack Obama revealed when he felt compelled to say that George Washington’s slave holding did not “negate his greatness.” Black Agenda Report thanks Obama for proving us right when we declared him to be a “more effective evil” in preserving the violent, anti-human beginnings of the United States and exemplifying what Frederick Douglass predicted for the future of the country.

We hope that this issue illuminates our work at Black Agenda Report and lives up to our pledge of providing “News, commentary and analysis from the Black left.” 

independence day
Frederick Douglass
July 4th
Slavery
declaration of independence
Colonialism

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Barack Obama, George Washington and the 4th of July
01 July 2026
The opening of the Obama Center has brought Barack Obama back into the spotlight although he offers nothing new.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
F$$K the Fourth: Declaring Our Collective Independence from the Sinking Ship of U.S. Empire
01 July 2026
The settler colonial state is now more corrupt and more unequal than even the genocidal "founding fathers" imagined.
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Trump and America’s Fascist Forefathers
01 July 2026
Donald Trump is not an anomaly, but the heir of fascism which began in 1776 and continued throughout U.S. history.
Elias Isquith
White supremacy and slavery: Gerald Horne on the real story of American independence
01 July 2026
It's time to revisit America's heroic creation myth and what really happened in 1776, author-historian tells Salon.
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Slaveholders Who Signed the Declaration of Independence: Washington, Jefferson, and the People they Owned
01 July 2026
Black Agenda Report editors Margaret Kimberley and Ann Garrison discuss the personal and institutional hypocrisy that allowed those who said, "
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
SPEECH: Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2026
25 February 2026
"A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization.”
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
The End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicing
26 November 2025
Glen Ford wrote many powerful essays, but his unflinching analysis of the history of the holiday we call Thanksgiving remains relevant over 20
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Terrible Origins of July 4th
02 July 2025
As the Fourth of July grows closer, let us examine the reality of "independence day".
Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
Dr. Wilmer Leon: When they tell you about their own, believe them
19 February 2025
"When people show you who they are, believe them" remains true when we examine the sorry state of the U.S. political arena.
Jon Jeter
A Grisly Kansas City Killing Shines a Light on Settler Colonialism’s ‘Boomerang Effect’
27 November 2024
The settler colony known as the United States inflicts violence upon Black people as a function of its existence.

More Stories


  • Black Cops Don’t Make Policing Any Less Anti-Black
     Bree Newsome Bass
    Black Cops Don’t Make Policing Any Less Anti-Black
    11 Nov 2020
    The idea that we can resolve racism by integrating a fundamentally anti-Black institution is the most absurd notion of all.
  • The FBI’s War on the Left: A Short History of COINTELPRO
    Alex Zambito
    The FBI’s War on the Left: A Short History of COINTELPRO
    11 Nov 2020
    The Bureau’s COINTELPRO deployed every trick and crime in the book to crush left dissidents, from disruption to assassination. 
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jason Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    11 Nov 2020
    This week the presidential election and the legacy of Paul Robeson were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Lia T. Bascomb’s “In Plenty and in Time of Need”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Lia T. Bascomb’s “In Plenty and in Time of Need”
    11 Nov 2020
    Politicians ignore at their peril the power of popular culture and its people-moving practitioners.
  • BAR Book Forum: Adrienne Brown’s “The Black Skyscraper”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Adrienne Brown’s “The Black Skyscraper”
    11 Nov 2020
    Facial masks and Black Lives Matter murals are part of the ever-changing panorama that shapes our perceptions of hierarchy, just as tall buildings do.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us