July 4, 2020. I sat at my computer in somewhat of a stupor, and then decided to Google “Independence Day.” Not the movie.
The historical significance of this day to slaves and to see why Frederick Douglass’ name kept popping up. I am a renewed activist, meaning that I am learning all the time about the injustices, past and present, that African Americans had to and have to face. As a person of white privilege, the deeper I dig, the deeper my willingness goes to make myself more vulnerable and less scared of what I may uncover as certain aspects of Black history come into my consciousness.
I think I also may have been in a stupor because I didn’t know much about Frederick Douglass. That embarrassed me. The more I read about him on Google, the more I realized that I may have never been exposed to him in school at all, or if I were, he was probably presented as an insignificant piece of information that was stuck in between the pages of a history textbook.
I just got a copy of the 113-page book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written By Himself.” It was published in 1845 at the anti-slavery office in Boston.
I am less embarrassed now, but I know that if I am not careful, I could resume my stupor at any time.
Jennifer Delozier
Easthampton