On this 4th of July, as our government persecutes people fleeing from violence, it is worth remembering that this is not new. As long ago as 1852, Frederick Douglass called on the conscience of the nation to grapple with the hypocrisy of celebrating liberty while imposing injustice.

In the video below James Earl Jones reads the speech that Frederick Douglas delivered at Rochester’s Corinthian Hall on July 5, 1852. This short address is among the most famous that Douglas would ever deliver. May it call us again to national consciousness.