Did you know that the United States has two independence days?
The first Independence Day is observed on July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was approved, thus officially cutting ties with Great Britain. Although the United States was free from Great Britain, not everyone was free because slavery existed. This is shared in Frederick Douglass’ 1852 keynote address, at an Independence Day celebration, titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” where he shared, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
