Independence Day: July 4th

Happy birthday America! From the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, to picnics, parades, and fireworks, take a patriotic tour through the collections and reflect upon the meaning of liberty and equality and our journey to create a more perfect union.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

— Preamble to the Declaration of Independence

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech titled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” a call for the promise of liberty to be applied equally to all Americans. Experience the moving words of Douglass with a powerful reading of the address by actor and activist Ossie Davis.