The Fourth of July Is Surely Come

Abstract

In this chapter, Edwards explores the meaning of Drake’s subtly revolutionary inscription and interprets it as an example of double-consciousness and alienation. Although some have interpreted Dave’s couplet as a straightforward celebration of the holiday, Edwards critiques this view, finding evidence of a “countervailing assertion of Dave the Potter’s black consciousness” in the inscription. The allusion to drums conflates war and nationalistic celebration with a tool often noted by paranoid plantation owners for being a tool of slave communication. The couplet thus hints at a “radical directive” to rebel. Edwards concludes by considering a variety of other meanings circulating around Dave’s inscription.