Join us at the Hardwick Farmers Market on Granite Street when the Jeudevine and Woodbury Libraries will host a communal reading of Frederick Douglass's fiery 1852 speech, "The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the Negro." Members of the community are invited to take part in the communal reading. Anyone who would like to read should contact Lisa Sammet at 472-5948 at the Jeudevine Library. Readers should gather at the entrance to the Farmers Market at 4:45 PM.

On July 5, 1852, Douglass, a former slave and leading abolitionist, begged the "race question" at an event in Rochester, NY, commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. "Fellow-citizens," he began, "why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?"

By our hosting such events near the time of the celebration of this nation's independence – its freedom from Great Britain and its tyranny, we invite thought and discussion about race and citizenship now, more than a century and a half later. The Jeudevine and Woodbury Libraries join the Vermont Humanities Council and Community Change Inc. in this statewide effort. The text of this speech, as well as accompanying materials, are available online at the Vermont Humanities Council website, www.vermonthumanities.org.