The 250th anniversary of the U.S. is on July Fourth this year. And now, there’s a movement to celebrate the day after, July 5, as the first annual Martyrs’ Day.
“It’s almost like Martyrs’ Day was hiding in plain view,” said Gloria Browne-Marshall, a constitutional law professor at John Jay College, which is part of CUNY.
She said July 5 was chosen because it’s the anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech about what Independence Day meant to those enslaved.
“I think that our fifth of July tribute is asking the question, ‘Let’s look at the people who paid the price for the freedoms we have,'” she said.
Browne-Marshall said the semiquincentennial celebration of the U.S. seemed like the perfect time.
“I thought it would be important to also pay tribute to regular people whose lives were taken as protesters, activists, or their lives triggered protests, activism and social justice in this country,” she said.
Browne-Marshall is the author of “A Protest History of the United States.” She said she came up with the idea for Martyrs’ Day while talking to people on her book tour.
And she said the day is being recognized in different ways across the United States.
“All local communities have their own way of paying tribute to their local martyrs,” she said.
At Bus Boys and Poets in Hyattsville, Maryland, . Browne-Marshall said different areas across the country are celebrating it in different ways, including with church services and prayers.
“It’s not to compete with the Fourth of July at all, it’s just to reflect on the freedoms we just celebrated,” she said.
has events across the country, sample proclamations to send to local governments and details on how to get involved with the movement.
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