July 4th 1830
Courtesy of The New York Public Library
Been looking at In the United States, July 4th as come to mean barbecuing with family and friends and community wide fireworks. John James Audubon’s 1830 travel account shows us that July 4th feast were community events in which everyone pitched in and ate well. Special occasions like July 4th were one of those few days in the year when enslaved African Americans, poor, and elite whites ate well together in relatively the same places. Holiday celebrations lessened color and class distinction ever so slightly.