Coming October 6th from the studio that brought you the rise and fall of Mars Hill and the Bulletin.

Be Afraid is a podcast that will take you on a journey into the heart of one of the most

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Dynamic voices for a diverse church. This is past the mic.

Hey folks, this is Jamar Tisby and welcome to a special episode of Past the Mic.

Every year around the 4th of July, thoughtful people, historically informed people,

racially conscious people, start thinking about the meaning of the 4th of July for all people in

America. We can think back to the Declaration of Independence and its lofty words about life

liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Knowing full well that in 1776, not all people were free,

not all people had their liberty, and at the same time, certain people in the United States were

declaring their independence from Britain. There were people, people of African descent,

held in chains. Women had hardly any of their civil or human rights. Native Americans constantly

being pushed off of their land and massacred. In so many ways, this was not a land of opportunity

for everyone. And few people have encapsulated that tension and that contradiction better than

Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved black man who emancipated himself. He went on to become

an abolitionist and a statesman and an outspoken leader in the Black Freedom struggle, and indeed

the American struggle for justice. In 1852, he gave an address called what to the slave is the

4th of July. Now, many of you have probably heard of this speech by now, maybe have listened to

or read an excerpt, but if you're like me and many other people, you maybe don't have time to sit

and read the entire thing all the way through, or even to watch some of the many dramatizations

on video. And so what we thought is that we'd use this opportunity to share an episode of past the

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