On this day, 14 February, we celebrate the estimated birth date of the abolitionist, orator, author and great thinker Frederick Douglass (1818-95). Although his date of birth was not recorded, Douglass believed he was born in February and chose this date to celebrate it.
During his famous 3 August 1857 address on ‘West India Emancipation’ in Canandaigua, New York, he emphasised that we must obtain systemic change through collective organisation. Douglass noted that both moral and physical dilemmas require struggle and ‘if there is no struggle, there is no progress.’
His words reiterate the reality that as long as the oppressed ‘hug their chains,’ the oppressors will never relinquish power. Douglass echoes the sentiments of many of our predecessors that we, as Africans, both at home and abroad, will only win our freedom when our collective demand for liberation becomes too powerful to be ignored by those who wield power.
Douglass died of a heart attack at age 77 on 20 February 1895.
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