Next week, the Herald Community Newspapers will publish the Declaration of Independence and a likeness of the American flag. The Declaration will appear here, on our Editorial Page, as it long has during the week of the Fourth of July, and the flag will appear in the center of the paper.
We encourage families to stand on their stoops and front lawns and read the Declaration together, as messengers did across the 13 colonies in 1776.
For 39 years, the Merrick Historical Society, led by President Lawrence Garfinkel, gathered on July Fourth at the Merrick Library and the Long Island Rail Road station to read the Declaration. All from the community and beyond were invited to attend, and the event attracted many families with small children.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, however, the society decided against the public reading, and is instead encouraging people to read the Declaration with their families at home. What a wonderful idea, we thought. What better way to learn about and teach our history — about the very moment our nation was conceived —than by reading the Declaration, line by line.
If you do so, take a photo and email it to us at SBrinton@liherald.com.