A debate broke out Thursday night on "The Ingraham Angle" about the Fourth of July holiday and whether or not the black experience in the country improved over the last few centuries.

Scotty Smart, an activist urging the boycott of Independence Day, said the country has fallen woefully short when it comes to providing justice and liberty for black people. Smart said "nothing that's been great for black people" since 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Horace Cooper, the Project 21 co-chair, disagreed with Smart's assessment.

"In 1776, there were thousands of free black men who joined in the fight to help secure liberty and freedom," Cooper said. "It is an absolute insult to the sacrifice that those people made to say that we were not, well, free."

The two men disagreed with each other and questioned the other's knowledge of the subject.

"Stay away from eating the Tide Pods and look at the history book. And what you will see is there are a number of black Americans throughout history who stood on the side of freedom and liberty," Cooper said. "This celebration is for everyone who supports liberty."

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Smart argued that black Americans still suffer from oppression.

"We still haven't got equality and justice for our liberty and justice for all," he said.