what to the slave is fourth of july essay
Answers
On Monday July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass captivated his audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York with one of the most powerful antislavery orations ever delivered, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”1 As an African American and former slave himself, Douglass was a crucial component to the Civil Rights movement and the abolishment of slavery. His concern for equal rights sprouted as early as twelve years old, often listening to debates among free blacks in Baltimore, as well as becoming a member of the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. While enslaved, he taught himself to read and write with the patriotic essays and speeches in Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator, which emphasized the power of a speaker’s…show more content…
By supporting the Revolutionaries actions to break free from British Rule, Douglass alluded to the similar fight that the American population faced to attain the same liberty that white citizens had. With the same courage the Founding Fathers had to create a free country, the American generation of 1852 faced a similar test to uphold the values of the Declaration of Independence, and liberate American slaves.7 After applauding the Founding Fathers, Douglass acknowledges that the emphasis of his speech is not to give praise, but to call on America to act on it’s own failures and begin to faithfully fulfill the nations oath.8 He asks his audience, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [African Americans]?”9 This rhetorical question Douglass presents, challenges America to reevaluate what they are truly celebrating on the Fourth of July, for it is surely not the freedom in which they claim to have achieved. Douglass asserts that asking black people to rejoice in the “shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery”10 and do not respect the courage, and steps the Founding Fathers took to create a free, liberated nation.11
Early on in Douglass’ career as an abolitionist, he affiliated his beliefs to fellow abolitionist,
Answer:
Slave is fourth of july essay
Explanation:
The fourth of July is wounding to the African American. While it marks the freedom, of the nation, from colonialists and champions the resolution of equality, the oppressions against African Americans pertinent during the period of 1852 make any kind of commemoration ironical.
The day claims to symbolize the freedom that every American citizen enjoys. However, as Frederick Douglass shows, in his 1852 speech, the African American has no freedom to claim. He goes on, to show how the delivery of justice is biased.
Furthermore, he shows how Christianity, which claims to uphold the rule of equality, goes behind its own back, and supports the oppressors of the African American citizen. Besides all the gloom, Douglass envisions a day when the slave misery ceases.
Main Points
The day of independence celebrations reminds every one of the struggles that the fore fathers of America went through to deliver freedom to every citizen. Douglass cries at his present situation, which bears no resemblance to the freedom imagined by the freedom fighters of the nation.
He declares the nation free from the rule of the Englishmen, but within itself, slaves still live, at the mercy of their masters. The author narrates the ordeals of slaves. He mentions the forceful labor without a justifiable pay.
He mentions the humiliation, which men and women go through as they are traded like swine. He also mentions how the very meaning of freedom is trampled on when its reference is made to the African American. There is no justice in the legal system. In fact, the system works for the oppressors who benefit most by having the able African Americans sent to do compulsory labor.
The author decries the attitude, which some citizens take concerning the internal slave trade in America. He mentions how newspapers deliver editorials on how the trade of able men and women is lucrative. He calls this a peculiarity. According to him, the institutions of America have double standards.
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