Owen D. Corpin will deliver parts of Douglass’ Fifth of July speech on Saturday, July 5 at 2 p.m. at the Peterboro United Methodist Church, 5240 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro. The event is free.
Frederick Douglass gave speeches in several places in Peterboro, but his speech in Rochester NY at Corinthian Hall on July 5, 1852 is, perhaps his most famous. The Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society asked Douglass to present a speech on the Fourth of July to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence seventy years earlier.
Douglass refused to speak on July 4th, but agreed to do so the next day, stating “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice. I must mourn.” He asked, and then explained, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Corpin’s baritone voice likens to what is understood to be similar Douglass’ voice. Corpin is an honor graduate of Morrisville-Eaton High School and an honor graduate and Trident Scholar from the United States Naval Academy a native and current resident of Peterboro. His family heritage traces directly to former enslaved ancestors freed by the local abolitionist Gerrit Smith.
He spent twenty years as a Naval Aviator flying fighter aircraft making over five hundred carrier landings during six deployments in defense of the United States. Corpin then joined Morrisville State College as an EOP advisor for seventeen years. Owen served on the Madison County Head Start board and the local library board before joining the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum Cabinet of Freedom in 2012. Owen serves on the NAHOF Education/Programs committee and coordinates the yearly NAHOF Watchnight/Watchfire observance on the last day of each year.
