GREENFIELD — The LAVA Center at 324 Main St. will host a free public reading and discussion of Frederick Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” on Friday, July 5. That date will mark the 172nd anniversary of the speech, which Douglass delivered in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, 14 years before he visited Greenfield in 1866.
The event begins at 5 p.m. with refreshments and music provided by the students of Twice as Smart, an after-school program founded and directed by Gloria Matlock. Following the music, a participatory reading of Douglass’ speech in both English and Haitian Creole will allow audience members to join in the reading if they wish. Dual-language handouts will be provided. A student from Twice as Smart will lead the reading in Haitian Creole.
Capping the evening, The LAVA Center’s Humanities Coordinator Matthew Barlow will lead a discussion on Douglass and his legacy, as well as the legacy of the successful slave rebellion in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue that, in 1804, became the first post-slave state to gain independence with the founding of Haiti. Members of the Haitian community in Greenfield are particularly invited to join this celebration of Haiti’s independence. Haitian Creole interpretation will be provided by special arrangement with the Translation Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
