When July 4th Was A Black Holiday: Rediscovering a Hidden Turn Up

That Wasn't In My Textbook

Did you know there was a time when July 4th was a Black holiday? Yep! Listen to find out when, why, and how Black folks made July 4th their own holiday, while also learning the remarkable ways movements and activists have used America's Birthday to continue the ongoing fight for equality.

In this quick 30-minute solo episode , you'll learn:

• What does July 4th truly represent? And why do we celebrate it?
• How July 4th became a platform for challenging America's institution of slavery and calling for its abolition.
• When July 4th became a Black holiday? And the ways Black folks use to go hard and turn up on the July fourth.
• the remarkable ways movements and activists have used America's Birthday to continue the ongoing fight for equality.
  

Press play on this episode, if you're ready to kick off July 4th weekend with history, facts and receipts on how America's birthday meaning has changed throughout time.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts

Keep in touch:

• Visit our website. Follow the podcast on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and watch episodes on Youtube and feel free to donate.
• To learn more about the podcast host Toya, visit ToyaFromHarlem.com. Connect with Toya on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Where I get my info from:

• Too-la-Loo for the Fourth of July
• People’s History of Fourth of July
• When the Fourth of July Was A Black Holiday
• A Nation's History: "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
• https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/peoples-history-of-fourth-of-july/
• https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/07/fourth-of-july-black-holiday/564320/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/02/fourth-july-is-black-american-holiday/
• https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/07/july-fourth-and-early-black-americans-its-complicated#:~:text=Throughout%20the%201800s%2C%20Black%20Americans,of%20happiness%20as%20white%20people.
• https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/too-la-loo-fourth-july
• https://medium.com/@marthajones/before-frederick-douglass-william-watkins-speaks-for-black-americans-on-independence-day-598582f4f7d9https://thereconstructionera.com/when-southern-whites-boycotted-and-blacks-embraced-the-fourth-of-july/#:~:text=The%20dance%20was%20so%20popular,a%20commemoration%20of%20black%20liberty

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STAY IN TOUCH:

• Visit our website.
• Follow and tag @thatwasntinmytextbook on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and feel free to donate.
• Sign up for podcast newsletter
• To learn more about the podcast host Toya, visit ToyaFromHarlem.com. Connect with Toya on Instagram and Twitter, or buy her a coffee.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Research and scripted by host Latoya Coleman (@ToyaFromHarlem).
Edited and Mixed by Chris Mann
Music Licensed through Epidemic Sound