海角大神

On America鈥檚 most political holiday, clashing visions are nothing new

A fireworks extravaganza at Mount Rushmore. Continued Black Lives Matter protests in U.S. cities.聽

A 鈥淪alute to America鈥� featuring music and a presidential speech from the White House. Canceled small town parades across the country 鈥� and for city residents to stay safe by just staying home.

Welcome to the fractured landscape of 2020鈥檚 July Fourth holiday weekend. A holiday rooted in the celebration of American freedom and unity is today producing clashing images of differences over the dangers of the coronavirus, the nation鈥檚 continuing struggle for racial equality, and the political fissures those battles reveal.

But is that kind of dissonance at the heart of the Fourth鈥檚 true purpose? It is, after all, arguably the most political of U.S. holidays. It commemorates a political act 鈥� the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At its beginning in 1776, New York City residents tore down an equestrian statue of King George III and hacked it to pieces.

At various points in history, the Fourth has been a day for divisive political expression. It has not always been a relaxed entrance to high summer, a time of hot dogs, bottle rockets, and all things red, white, and blue.

The holiday shows how Black and white Americans, immigrants and the native-born, have over decades battled over the meaning of freedom and to whom it applies, says Blain Roberts, a history professor at California State University, Fresno, and co-author of 鈥淒enmark Vesey鈥檚 Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy.鈥�

鈥淚n that way, the Fourth of July is really a window into that long political struggle about what it means to be an American,鈥� Dr. Roberts says.

鈥淲hat to the slave is the Fourth of July?鈥�

In the sweep of national history, many Black Americans have had different attitudes toward the Fourth of July than their white counterparts.

鈥淭o be clear, Fourth of July means different things to different people, and so does 鈥楢mericanness鈥� depending on the color one 鈥榳ears鈥�,鈥� says Soji Akomolafe, chair of political science at Norfolk State University, an HBCU (historically black college or university).

When white America gained independence in 1776, Black America remained persona non grata, Dr. Akomolafe says.

Before the Civil War, the basic reason for this split was obvious: the glaring hypocrisy between the Declaration鈥檚 words 鈥渁ll men are created equal鈥� and the reality of the existence of slavery.

This was eloquently expressed in Frederick Douglass鈥檚 famous 1852 address to the Ladies鈥� Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York. Speaking, pointedly, on July 5, Douglass asked, 鈥淲hat to the Slave is the Fourth of July?鈥� and answered: 鈥淭he Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.鈥�

What Douglass was trying to do in his speech was point out that the Fourth isn鈥檛 just a celebration of American food and fireworks and freedom, says Keidrick Roy, a doctoral candidate in American literature and intellectual history at Harvard University.

鈥淔or Douglass, the Fourth of July is a time for us to reflect, and to be critical about ourselves and how we reflect on our institutions that govern us,鈥� says Mr. Roy.

Douglass points out the ideals of the Declaration and the Constitution are things to which we should aspire, Mr. Roy adds.

鈥淎nd what we see now in America conflicts with those ideals. So we need to endeavor to reconcile that contradiction,鈥� he says.

Elizabeth Johnson Rice was a civil rights activist starting in her college days, when she was a member of the Richmond 34 鈥� a group of students who sat-in at an all-white lunch counter in Richmond in 1960. They were one of the first mass arrests of the civil rights era and helped lead to the city鈥檚 desegregation.

鈥淭he founding fathers at the time [of the Declaration of Independence] really weren鈥檛 thinking about me,鈥� she says.

鈥淭hey were looking at us like chattel. They weren鈥檛 looking at us like human beings when this whole thing was drafted,鈥� she adds.

Remembering the Fourth only in the red-white-and-blue imagery of tricorn hats and bewigged signers of the Declaration focuses too little on the contributions of Black Americans, who weren鈥檛 treated equally at the time yet whose labor still was a backbone of the country鈥檚 growth, says Ms. Johnson Rice.

Ironically, there was a short period in U.S. history when, in the South in particular, the Fourth of July was a true Black holiday.聽

The Civil War鈥檚 outcome flipped attitudes around. Defeated white Confederates did not want to celebrate the Union. Meanwhile, African Americans embraced it as a symbol of the new order.

They gathered in small towns and big cities to picnic, hear orators read the Emancipation Proclamation and the Declaration of Independence, and see fireworks, says Ethan Kytle, a California State University, Fresno, historian and co-author with spouse Dr. Roberts of 鈥淒enmark Vesey鈥檚 Garden,鈥� which recounts some of these celebrations.

The most elaborate took place in Charleston, South Carolina. Black militia units with names like the 鈥淒ouglass Light Infantry鈥� marched through the streets of a city known as the capital of Southern slavery. They ended at White Point Garden, a park at the base of the Charleston peninsula.

鈥淎frican Americans felt for the first time that it was a holiday that included them,鈥� says Dr. Kytle.

But white Southerners resented the celebrations. Beginning in the 1880s they pushed back, reclaiming local political power as Reconstruction waned, and then passing ordinances restricting the Black gatherings. Eventually Southern whites stripped Black Americans of citizenship in all but name.

By the turn of the century, Fourth of July celebrations in the South were white affairs that would pair renditions of 鈥淒ixie鈥� with the 鈥淪tar-Spangled Banner.鈥� In the Jim Crow era, cities erected many memorials to Confederate soldiers 鈥� the same memorials that protesters are toppling today.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not that Black people aren鈥檛 patriotic. They have a different sense and understanding of what that means and how we want to express and celebrate that,鈥� says聽Hasan Kwame Jeffries, a historian at The Ohio State University and author of 鈥淏loody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama鈥檚 Black Belt.鈥澛犫�淗ere鈥檚 the thing. Black people have a blood investment in the nation, in the soil, in the land. People recognize that, 鈥楾his is my country,鈥� but what does it mean to not be a full citizen in this country? That limits the real joyousness of the Fourth of July.鈥�

Presidents and symbolism

U.S. presidents have long used July Fourth as a means to promote their particular visions of what being an American means.

In 1964, for instance, Lyndon Baines Johnson pointedly signed the Civil Rights Act on July 2, the actual date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

鈥淥ne hundred eighty-eight years ago this week, a small band of valiant men began a struggle for freedom,鈥� President Johnson said in a nationally-televised speech from the White House. 鈥淵et those who founded America knew that freedom would be secure only if each generation fought to renew and enlarge its meaning.鈥澛�

Eight years later, with the country riven by protests against the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon and conservative supporters organized a giant 鈥淗onor America Day鈥� for July Fourth聽on the Washington Mall. Evangelist Billy Graham gave the keynote address. Comedian Bob Hope served as co-host of the entertainment.

But the day didn鈥檛 end as planned. It attracted droves of protesters, some of whom stripped naked and cooled off in the Reflecting Pool. To keep them at bay, the Park Police eventually resorted to tear gas, which blew back and wafted over the celebration itself as the Navy Band wrapped up with 鈥淭he Star-Spangled Banner.鈥�

In recent years, President Donald Trump has used the holiday to invoke symbols of military strength and national grandeur.

In 2019, he headlined a 鈥淪alute to America鈥� event with a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, accompanied by military band performances, a military flyover, and a fireworks display. According to a recently-released General Accounting Office Report, the event cost about $13 million, double that of previous years.

For 2020, the president opted for the sweeping stage of Mount Rushmore, where on July 3 he is scheduled to give remarks and attend a firework display in front of sculptor Gutzon Borglum鈥檚 giant carved faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.聽On July Fourth聽he will host this year鈥檚 鈥淪alute to America鈥� from the White House South Lawn and the Ellipse. It will include music, military demonstrations, and a flyover of military aircraft along the East Coast from Boston to D.C.

Typically, presidents use patriotic holidays like the Fourth of July to reaffirm communal values 鈥� to remind us what being American entails and how our national values serve the greater good in the U.S. and around the world, says Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric at Texas A&M and author of 鈥淒emagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump.鈥�

President Trump has famously shown little interest in acting the role of a traditional, unifying U.S. chief executive. His version of July 4聽showmanship, says Dr. Mercieca in an email, seems to define American exceptionalism as 鈥渨inning鈥� 鈥� depicting the nation as a first-class military and economic power, as opposed to a symbol of liberty and justice for the world.

The majestic backdrops are meant to link President Trump to his greatest predecessors, she says. He鈥檚 like Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. He鈥檚 like Washington, Jefferson, et al, at Mount Rushmore.

鈥淚t鈥檚 convenient staging that is meant to bolster Trump鈥檚 claims to being American exceptionalism personified,鈥� says Dr. Mercieca.

A political holiday聽

Has President Trump politicized national July Fourth聽celebrations? Critics complain that his recent predecessors didn鈥檛 make themselves the keynote speaker of the Washington celebrations. D.C. residents bemoan the loss of what used to be a relaxing local break from politics 鈥� a concert on the Mall, followed by spectacular fireworks, with nary a partisan word to be heard from the podium.

鈥淭his is a show of pageantry, and it really is not getting down to the root of the issues for the minority communities, the Black and brown communities that are suffering indiscriminately and unequally due to COVID-19, and to all of the unjust murders of people of color,鈥� says Dr. Sharlene Sinegal-DeCuir, department chair and associate professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a really, really big thing.鈥�

But in a basic sense, the celebrations around July Fourth聽really , notes David Waldstreicher, a historian of early America at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The question, he says, is which vision of American citizenship it鈥檚 being used to advance.

President Trump, for his part, has charged that the current push to remove Confederate memorials is, in its own way, a politicization of American history. On Wednesday, the president went so far as to threaten to veto the annual defense authorization bill if it includes a provision that would lead to the renaming of Fort Bragg and other U.S. military bases that bear Confederate names.

On this issue Dr. Waldstreicher points back to the original July Fourth, when stripping the new nation of the symbols of its old colonial overlords, such as statues of the English king, was a part of, indeed central to, the meaning of the day.

鈥淣othing is more American than tearing down statues in the name of the people鈥檚 right to decide what is an apt symbol of popular rule,鈥� he says in an email. 鈥淚n that sense, even with some accompanying flag-burnings, every day is the Fourth of July.鈥�

Indeed, protests might be as much a Fourth of July celebration as picnics.

鈥淔reedom is never given, it鈥檚 always demanded,鈥� says novelist Tina McElroy Ansa of St. Simons Island, Georgia,聽talking about this particular moment in American race relations. 鈥淲e are not asking the government for something. We are moving ahead and changing and improving and getting glitches out.鈥�

Staff writers Patrik Jonsson, Noah Robertson, and Sophie Hills contributed to this report.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct Elizabeth Johnson Rice鈥檚 name.