James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July to captive Africans in the American slave system

July 4, 1776



July 4, 1776

where were you

African man/woman

in celebration or on plantation

popping fire crackers

picking cotton

what were you doing

why were you doing it

with whom were you doing it

July 4, 1776

were you part of new nation

or ole member Massa Johnson's plantation

where were you

July 4, 1776

African man/African woman

--Marvin X

7/4/95

Philly PA



from Love and War Poems by Marvin X, 1995, Black Bird Press, Berkeley CA.