NORTHAMPTON — In the community room of the Hampshire County Jail on Friday morning, one inmate after another approached a podium and together read all 44 stanzas of Frederick Douglass’ classic speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.”
Sitting in their orange scrubs or grey sweat suits, some enjoyed coffee and muffins that were put out before the text was read.
While a few inmates closed their eyes, others held their face in their hands, and most of the room attentively followed along line by line. Aside from the readers, the only occasional noise in the room was when everyone flipped the pages of the printouts of the text that were provided.
Douglass’ words highlighted the hypocrisy of America. Answering the question that the title of his speech puts forth, he said that for a slave the Fourth of July is, “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity… “
After a half-hour or so of reading, inmates shared their experience of diving into the speech that was first given in 1852, and now in 2026 inspired tears, anger and even gratitude for those present.
“I cried the first time I read it,” said inmate Dushane Simon, one of the 30 who participated in the reading. “I tried a couple times to see how people suffered back in the days of their children getting lashed and stuff like that. It’s really hurtful to try.”
Simon, who came to America from Jamaica, said reading Douglass also made him consider current immigration policies under the Trump administration.
“Right now, they’re picking up people from their houses, kids from their schools, separating families,” he said. “It’s trauma for me also, because I came here legally, but I still wonder, hey, what if they’re outside waiting for me, like when I’m ready to leave?”
The communal reading of the text is one of 60 being put on across the state as part of the country’s 250th anniversary, and funded by Mass Humanities. When Lisa Reilly — WHMP radio host and founder of the nonprofit XVI Media — received one of these grants, she immediately reached out to Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane.
“I bet you nobody is doing this inside jails,” she said, adding that there is a really strong connection between slavery and incarceration, or “the warehousing of people.”
Friday morning’s conversations were recorded for a future episode of her 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning radio show and podcast, “The Hustler Files.” The radio show/podcast focuses on the criminal justice system, addiction recovery, domestic violence, human trafficking, fair-chance employment and prison reform.
Since January 2023, Reilly has recorded nearly 160 podcasts, which are available on every major streaming platform, including Spotify and Apple.
Simon, as well as other inmates, said the overwhelming lesson from reading Douglass was the need for unity.
“It’s all about coming together and sharing our life experience, because if you ask any one of us, we are either missing a dad, missing a mom,” said Simon.
“We should all be united, we should all be working for a better future for the kids that are growing up,” said Joel Aviles, who before reading the Douglass speech thought racism was more of a thing of the past. “Like the rest of us, we’re all human, we make mistakes, but if we all start working towards a better future, I believe, there’s going to be more love and less hatred.”
Damon Blake, who has a Black mom and a white dad, found the text to be “powerful.”
“I can see both sides of how slavery affected the Black people and how white people basically preyed and did awful things to Black people for their benefit, which in the end only led to bad things and anger and disgust from African Americans,” Blake said.
He continued, “I think we still need to do more about equality. Even though we’re supposed to be equal, there’s a lot of discrimination still. There’s still a lot of poverty for African Americans, and I feel like there’s not as many resources for African Americans as there is for white people.”
Corey Griswold said hearing the pain of those who had been enslaved made him grateful for his own position in life.
“Even being incarcerated, I know I’m going to get out and be free at some point, so I’m sorry for those who had to suffer and still suffer,” Griswold said. “I’m thankful for having a family and loved ones and not being in that situation.”
The Mass Humanities grant that made the Douglass reading possible totalled $1,800. Funds helped cover books, a banner, photographer and videographer, printing and production costs.
Reilly, who has worked in the media landscape for 30 years, including jobs at Disney and CBS, praised the work that went into organizing the morning by the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office.
For one, Christina Casey of the Sheriff’s Office assisted inmates as they prepared to read the text and refine their speeches. Reilly also praised Cahillane for being innovative, caring and a cheerleader for the inmates of his jail.
Also in attendance were state Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, Register of Probate for the Probate and Family Court in Hampshire County Mark Ames, and state Rep. Homar Gómez, D-Easthampton.
Prior to reading Douglass, Cahillane posed a question for those in the room that proved to be one of the central questions of the day: “Humans are flawed, so how do we bring out the best in each one of us?”
