The Many Meanings of the Fourth of July

Declaration of Independence, Dunlap Broadside (1776) Over the past few years, we’ve steadily grown our collection of readings related to U.S. Independence Day as well as Ben Franklin’s World episodes detailing the early American history of the Fourth of July. It’s time we put it all in one place.  Frederick Douglass famously questioned Americans in 1852, “What to… Read More

Read More

Dreams of a Revolution Deferred

Frontispiece. Walker’s Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life by Henry Highland Garnet and also Garnet’s Address to the Slaves of the United States of America. (New York: J.H. Tobitt, 1848). Library of Congress. For Black citizens of the early United States, the Fourth of July was a yearly… Read More

Read More

Recent Posts

June 29, 2025

Peer Review for the Born-Digital?


April 1, 2025

BJ Lillis


April 1, 2025

Patrick Barker

Subscribe to the Blog

[ninja_form id='48']