LeBron James Posts Frederick Douglass' Famous Speech About 4th Of July

James posted Douglass' speech about the 4th of July to his combined 114 million followers on Twitter and Instagram.

LeBron James tweeted an except of Frederick Douglass' famous 4th of July speech and posted to Instagram a video of actor James Earl Jones reading it. 

James, a three-time NBA champion and four-time MVP, has a combined 114 million followers on Twitter and Instagram.

Douglass was a famous abolitionist who was born into slavery. He delivered the speech entitled "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" in front of about 600 people at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852. The speech pointed out that the hypocrisy of a holiday celebrating independence amid slavery. 

The speech was written 168 years ago, but James tweeted a portion of it as America still struggles with racism and racial injustices. 

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" Douglass said. "I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

"To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

"There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

"Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope- FREDERICK DOUGLASS 🙏🏾✊🏾💪🏾👑."