Amid last weekend’s sweltering heat wave, about 60 people congregated inside the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs on Saturday afternoon to listen and participate in the 22nd annual community reading of Frederick Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Douglass first delivered his famous speech on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y., to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The speech, which criticizes the incongruency of American democratic principles and the existence of slavery, is read annually at the Tabernacle and at the Federated Church in Edgartown.
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth 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,” Douglass said in 1852.
Frederick Collins, a law professor at John Jay College, who read Douglass’ speech alone during the tradition’s first year on Inkwell Beach, told The Times that Douglass’ words still ring true today.
“The speech is current. If he were alive, he could read the speech today,” Collins said. “Frederick Douglass was a great human being, not just for white folks and Black folks, but for women’s rights to vote. I’m glad my mother named me after him.”
The tradition of the Tabernacle reading was launched in 2004 by Abigail and Tony McGrath. Abigail, who died in 2024, founded the Renaissance House, a writer’s retreat in Oak Bluffs. The house formerly belonged to Abigail’s mother, Helene Johnson, a Harlem Renaissance poet. The speech-reading is a part of the Renaissance House’s programs.
Jason Rosen, Johnson’s grandson, emphasized Douglass’ bravery when he first delivered the speech. “In 1852, slavery was at its height. There were slave catchers everywhere. He spoke for three and a half hours alone, with no amplification, to hundreds of people,” Rosen said. “This man risked everything. It begs the question, what are we willing to risk?”
During the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Rosen underscored the need to remain hopeful about making social progress. “We must be optimistic that the American experiment is not a complete failure,” he said. “We can right the shift, we can progress with civility and decency, no matter how bleak times may seem today.”
He also reflected on the Island’s significance to Johnson and his great-aunt, Harlem Renaissance novelist Dorothy West.
“The Island was their summer refuge and their place out of a sweltering city,” Rosen said. “It’s where they worked on their craft and had time to become creative.”
Rosen also reminisced about his own experiences with summers on the Vineyard. “Since then, those summers and the time we have here has defined our lives, because it gave us the freedom to be something more than just a cog in the machine,” he said.
This year’s reading included 32 participants, among them Toni Kauffman, former president of the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Elaine Weintraub, co-founder of the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Heritage Trail.
At the front of the Tabernacle, a table with an attached QR code was available for attendees to donate to the Helen Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation for Artists in Need, the nonprofit organization that funds Renaissance House. Currently, the foundation is fundraising to create a garden for literary readings, to fulfill McGrath’s dream.
After the reading concluded, Rosen’s wife, Agnes Peña-Rosen, applauded the participants’ efforts. “What you have done today and what has happened every year for 22 years is uplifting and elevating yourselves, but also everyone around you,” Peña-Rosen said.
Peña-Rosen emphasized the strength of the speech-reading tradition throughout the Island. “You do it in your backyard, you do it in your kitchen, you do it in church, you teach your kids,” she said. “Please, everybody, bring your kids … we have to teach, and you teach by example.”he Times that Douglass’ words still ring true today.
“The speech is current. If he were alive, he could read the speech today,” Collins said. “Frederick Douglass was a great human being, not just for white folks and Black folks, but for women’s rights to vote. I’m glad my mother named me after him.”
The tradition of the Tabernacle reading was first launched in 2004 by Abigail and Tony McGrath. Abigail, who died in 2024, founded the Renaissance House, a writer’s retreat in Oak Bluffs. The house formerly belonged to Abigail’s mother, Helene Johnson, a Harlem Renaissance poet. The speech-reading is a part of the Renaissance House’s programs.
Jason Rosen, Johnson’s grandson, emphasized Douglass’s bravery when he first delivered the speech.
“In 1852, slavery was at its height. There were slave catchers everywhere. He spoke for three and a half hours alone with no amplification to hundreds of people,” Rosen said. “This man risked everything. It begs the question, what are we willing to risk?”
During the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Rosen underscored the need to remain hopeful about making social progress.
“We must be optimistic that the American experiment is not a complete failure,” he said. “We can right the shift, we can progress with civility and decency, no matter how bleak times may seem today.”
He also reflected on the Island’s significance to Johnson and his great aunt, Harlem Renaissance novelist Dorothy West.
“The Island was their summer refuge and their place out of a sweltering city,” Rosen said. “It’s where they worked on their craft and had time to become creative.”
Rosen also reminisced about his own experiences with summers on the Vineyard.
“Since then, those summers and the time we have here has defined our lives because it gave us the freedom to be something more than just a cog in the machine,” he said.
This year’s reading included 32 participants, among them Toni Kauffman, former president of the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Elaine Weintraub, co-founder of the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Heritage Trail.
At the front of the Tabernacle, a table with an attached QR code was available for attendees to donate to the Helen Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation for Artists in Need, the nonprofit organization that funds the Renaissance House. Currently, the foundation is fundraising to create a garden for literary readings to fulfill McGrath’s dream.
After the reading concluded, Rosen’s wife, Agnes Peña-Rosen, applauded the participants’ efforts.
“What you have done today and what has happened every year for 22 years is uplifting and elevating yourselves but also everyone around you,” Peña-Rosen said.
Peña-Rosen emphasized the strength of the speech-reading tradition throughout the Island.
“You do it in your backyard, you do it in your kitchen, you do it in church, you teach your kids,” she said. “Please everybody bring your kids … we have to teach, and you teach by example.”
