A bilingual community reading and discussion of Frederick Douglass' 1852 speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" on July 11 will kick off a series of anti-racist summer programming in Egleston Square.
This will be the fifth annual reading of Douglass' speech in Egleston Square. This year's event is at the Egleston Square Peace Garden at 3129 Washington St.
The event is being co-moderated by Anne Hernández, a social worker for Boston Public Schools, and Adjunct Professor at Boston College School of Social Work, and Josué Sakata, Assistant Director of History and Social Studies for Boston Public Schools.
"The reading and our conversation will open up dialogue about race, our history and context in the U.S. and the Caribbean, and what it means for us at this moment," says the Facebook event page.
Programming throughout the summer series will include conversations about policy brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, and how these issues affect Egleston Square.
Speakers and seating will be arranged to promote social distancing. Attendees must wear a mask and maintain at least six feet from other attendees. Masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer will be available.
This event is being organized by Egleston Square Main Street, Egleston Square Neighborhood Association, and the Robert Lawson Park Friends' Group. It is being generously sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, and funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Mass Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.