Frederick Douglass's essay "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" is a powerful piece of English rhetoric and scathing condemnation of slavery. In his public speech concerning the Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass expresses a harsh and sincere attitude toward the anniversary and freedom in America. Douglass claims that the only way for him to view Independence Day is from “the slave’s point of view” because the nation’s fathers obtained autonomy for their descendants but not Frederick Douglass's speech, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July," serves as a poignant critique of the stark contradictions between the celebration of freedom and the reality of slavery in the United States. Douglass’ decision to speak on July 5, deliberately after Independence Day celebrations, symbolically underscored his argument: America’s celebration of freedom was bitterly ironic and deeply hypocritical in the context of slavery and racial oppression. From the very beginning, Douglass's "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" presented an alternative view of Independence Day with an immediacy and power that would shape later Black perspectives for generations. This essay is about Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” delivered on July 5, 1852. The speech critiques the hypocrisy of celebrating American freedom while millions of African Americans remained enslaved. Every Fourth of July, Americans are reminded of these foundational principles, reinforcing a sense of shared commitment to the ideals upon which the nation was built. The Fourth of July as a Symbolic Reminder. The Fourth of July serves as a symbolic reminder of the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. The speech itself: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” The basics of Douglass’s life: o 1838: Frederick Bailey escapes from slavery and settles in New Bedford, MA, where he takes the name Douglass. o 1845: A radicalized Frederick Douglass publishes his Narrative, announcing to the world he is an escaped slave. Over the course of five lessons, students will read, analyze, and gain a clear understanding of the speech Frederick Douglass delivered on July 5, 1852, in which he asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” By doing this, Douglass is able to emphasize that while many of the whites and Americans who fought for independence from Britain celebrate the Fourth of July as an important holiday where the American population recognizes their freedom, many African slaves don’t have the same rights and freedoms that the whites have which makes this holiday Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Read the excerpt from Rudolfo Anaya's essay "Take the Tortillas Out of Your Poetry."Tortillas and poetry. They go hand in hand. Books nourish the spirit, bread nourishes our bodies. Our distinct cultures nourish each one of us, and as we know more and more about the art and literature of the different cultures, we become freer Below is the speech, annotated with relevant scholarship that gives context to the historical moment in which Douglass spoke: the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin a few months prior, and the violence of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and Missouri Compromise. In Frederick Douglass’ speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, delivered in 1852, he employs a masterful rhetorical strategy to position himself to his audience, convey his arguments for abolition, and express hope for the future. Read the excerpt from Frederick Douglass's speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for Douglas uses many rhetorical strategies to convey his powerful emotions on the subject, and the end result is a very effectively argued point. Douglass begins by asking a series of rhetorical questions, not without the SE of sarcasm. The argument reaches a peak in this section when Douglass articulates the ironic question that centers his speech: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” (9); immediately, Douglass answers with his thesis that it is “a day that reveals to him, more than all the other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which In “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass sought not only to convince people of the wrongfulness of slavery but also to make abolition more acceptable to Northern whites. Douglass delivered this speech to the Ladies’ Antislavery Society of Rochester, New York, on the meaning and significance of the Fourth of July to the slave. Speaking on July 5, the day after Independence Day (something Douglass had insisted upon), and before a predominantly white audience, Douglass eloquently explained why the Fourth of July 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. “A person held in servitude as the chattel of another” (Slave, n.d.). This is the definition of a “slave”. The most well-known cases of slavery occurred during the settlement of America, for well over 300 years, slavery was allowed and for the most part considered the “norm” within our country.
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