WHAT: a public reading of Frederick Douglass's famous 1852 speech, "The Meaning of the 4th of July for the Negro," at Worcester's 4th of July Celebration. The 166-year old speech is powerful and timely, still.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES TO READ A PARAGRAPH EACH. We hope you will come and read (or come and listen), and if you know of others who might enjoy participating, please invite them to come, too.
WHEN: 1:00 p.m. on July 4th
WHERE: near the Worcester Historical Society building (the old White School) on Ladd Field, off of Calais Road in Worcester Village
All you need to do is show up and read a paragraph, or show up and listen. In general, people will line up and get whatever paragraph corresponds to their place in line.
FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TIME TO PRACTICE - some of the ideas and words are big - we are keeping a list of such readers and the paragraphs they are choosing. This way, if they want to, they can practice and be more ready to read in public. The full text we are reading is here: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Douglass5JulySpeechMedium.pdf.
(Each paragraph has a number. If someone chooses a paragraph, please send us an email so we are sure not to "double book" any paragraphs.)
Kathy Johnson: vermontequity@gmail.com
Dell Waterhouse: dellw@sover.net
We are doing this as part of the Vermont Humanities Council program that is described at: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/programs/public-programs/reading-frederick-douglass/. The program is sponsored by Central Vermont Showing Up for Racial Justice, the Worcester Historical Society, and the Worcester 4th of July Planning Committee.
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