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Frederick douglass rhetorical stance
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July
Summary of what a slave is the fourth of july
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Because slaves were excluded from any recognized involvement in Fourth of July celebrations, Fredrick Douglass had to have been an extremely recognized and respected individual. He defied the stigma around being African American and others acknowledged him as intelligent and well spoken. However, in his oration, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?, we see him cleverly begin his address by expressing his insecurity and embarrassment towards his address. He continues to spike his audience’s attention through playing on their feelings of patriotism, commending the young nation and its founding fathers. After lingering on with appraisal for the past and capturing the intrigue of the entire audience, Douglass suddenly transitions into the solemn …show more content…
Independence Day was seen as a sacred occasion to Anglo-American citizens, and we see this doctrine manifested through the extravagant events orchestrated around our nation’s birthday. Public parades, orations or sermons, luncheons, firework shows, and formal dinners were some of the major commemorations that citizens celebrated. One particular tradition that clearly shows the loyalty and respect that citizens felt towards the nation were toasts. A mainstay of Fourth of July dinners, toasts emphasized the chivalry and honor that citizens felt for their country. Ten to twelve men stood at the dinner table, each one declaring validations of nobility and praise to the other. They captured white men’s elevated status as protectors and governors of their households, as well as white women as fair and intelligent patrons of refinement. Through this example, I started to understand the presumptuous, autocratic attitude of Americans during this time. This is the mentality that Douglass is facing and arguing against in his …show more content…
These events asserted the unrealistic unity of American people. “The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.” (Douglass 2241) Anglo-Americans only acknowledged their traditional, ritualistic values towards the holiday, while completely ignoring the real underlying issues of slavery and oppression. This is why Douglass’s oration takes such a sudden shift when he discusses the present-day issues. He wants his audience to realize this holiday is one of mourning and sorrow for African Americans. By exploring the many festivities held on an antebellum Fourth of July, whether it was public sermons or odes to founding fathers through toasts, I exposed that the tone of Douglass’s audience was one of extreme patriotism and blinding passion. This discovery ultimately lead to a fuller understanding of the oration and the strides Douglass had to make to convey a message of freedom and
Douglass congratulates the Americans on the anniversary. He says that it brings good memories of when the country was delivered from British rule and that America is growing older. He states that it is no necessarily bad that the country is young because it can change easily. If it were older, “the patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the reformer’s brow heavier (Douglass). He also speaks well of the Founding Fathers for declaring their independence from Britain, especially since they put national interest above personal interest, which Douglass greatly applauds.
The author Kevin Bales ,and co-writer Ron Soodalter, discuss the issues pertaining to forced labor in “Slavery in The Land of The Free”. Free The Slaves is a non-profit organization in Washington that Bales founded to help end slavery not only in the United States, but around the world. The Abraham Lincoln Institute has the honor to have the established historian, Soodalter, serve on it’s board.The two authors also wrote a book by the name of “The Slave Next Door: Human trafficking and Slavery in America Today” (2009). One of the issues that Bales and Soodalter effectively touch on is how widespread the issue of human trafficking and slavery is in
In the speech, “what to the slave is the Fourth of July?” which Fredrick Douglass gave he emphasized how the fourth of July is not a celebration to the slaves but an insult and ridicule. Douglass uses logos and pathos to make the audience understand his point of view and how this so called “independence day’’ is for whites only because the black people in America are still slaves , which in turn means they can’t celebrate this day. Using these rhetoric’s he conveys his point on how this day is adds insult to injury.
Frederick Douglass’s speech was given to so many of his own people. The fact that Douglass speaks so harshly to them proves that he has passion for what he talks about through-out. “What to the slave is the Fourth of July”, compares and contrasts the different meanings the Fourth of July shared between Whites and African Americans. Douglass says “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim”. Frederick Douglass was not striving for the attention, he just wanted to get across that the Fourth of July is not a day of celebration to African Americans and the respect he shared with them, having once being a slave himself.
On July 5th 1852, Frederick Douglass, one of history’s outstanding public speakers, carried out a very compelling speech at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. Within that moment of time where the freedom of Americans was being praised and celebrated, he gathered the nation to clear up the tension among slavery and the establishment of the country’s goals. Frederick Douglass’s speech mentions the development of the young nation, the Revolution, and his own life experience. While speaking, his main subject was seen to be American slavery. The “Fourth of July Oration” was a commendable model of Frederick Douglass’s affection and engagement towards the freedom of individuals. Frederick Douglass’s speech left an impact on his audience and continues to change the minds of those who read his speech today. I agree with plenty of dominant thoughts and cases he acknowledged in the “Fourth of July Oration.”
Frederick Douglass uses effective evidence and language in order to support his argument in the speech “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.”
A human being is a complicated entity of a contradictory nature, where creative and destructive, virtuous and vicious are interwoven. Each of us has gone through various kinds of struggle at least once in a lifetime, ranging from everyday discrepancies to worldwide catastrophes. There are always different causes and reasons that trigger these struggles, however, there is common ground for them as well: people are different, even though it is a truism no one seems to be able to realize this statement from beyond the bounds of one’s self and reach out to approach the Other. The concept of the Other is dominant in Frederick Douglass’s text “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”, for it determines the main conflict and illuminates the issue of intolerance and even blasphemy regarding the attitude of white Americans towards Negroes. The text was written as a speech to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and delivered at Rochester’s Corinthian Hall on July 5, 1852.
He points out that the Fourth of July came to be seen by abolitionists as a day suited to point out the nation's failure to live up to its promise of liberty for all. Douglass raises the issue of slaves' humanity by addressing the line between humans and animals. Frederick Douglass' point in "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" is that America was being incredibly hypocritical in their celebration of the Fourth of July. The whole point of that holiday is to celebrate that all people in the country are free from Great Britain. while they are sitting there celebrating their own freedom, slaves are being held captive in that same country that seems to value freedom so greatly.
The effectiveness and excellent structure of Frederick Douglass’ Fourth of July speech is apparent. His rhetorical arguments served as powerful rebuts to opposing contentions and forced his audience to consider the undeniable error in their nation’s policy and approach regarding slavery. Douglass also compelled his audience to take his words seriously by establishing his credibility, recognizing his audience, and skillfully constructing and executing his speech. The end product of his efforts became a provocative speech at the time and a historical delivery in the future. Douglass succeeded in giving a speech that clearly and effectively argued the absurdity of the institution of slavery in America, leaving it up to his audience to consider his position and decide for themselves how to act in the future.
Americans, the notoriously claimed ignorant people of society. The process of becoming a default American of today’s culture involves simple steps. Firstly being, one must purely neglect the notion of an independence day and replace it with a widely known date, the Fourth of July. This is the date people are required to set out and spend half of their monthly check on explosives compounded with fire of various colors to impress everyone for a mere thirty seconds. Along with this must come the obligatory invitation of family’s families sided with lawn chairs sprawled out across the bug infested lawn. However, if the person following these steps is anything but white, they must disregard the entirety of these points. For this day of independence was not fought all beings in America, but just the selfish whites living in the colonies who mindlessly used slaves to do their dirty work. Is this what being an American was and is nowadays? The concept of being an American is so extensively butchered into the idea of freedom, equality, and diversity however the countless ideas
Rhetorically, Douglass was a master of irony, as illustrated by his famous Fourth of July speech in 1852: "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn," he declared. Then he accused his unsuspecting audience in Roch...
The speech I read was 'The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro', by Frederick Douglas. In the 4th July, being Independence Day, people celebrate it for their liberty, independence and separation from Great Britain. But all these joy applied only to those who were not under the burden of slavery, not to the slaves and Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave: “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me” (Douglas, 1852). In this speech, Douglas reproved those that endorsed slavery and stated that it was not his plan to argue slavery since people were well aware that man is entitled to freedom, that slaves are men, that they are moral, intellectual and responsible
“Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.” Citizens of the United States of America grow up hearing these words echo in their ears. They see it in advertising, campaign speeches, the news, and any patriotic material. But this statement, this theme that those patriots cling to has not always been true for everyone. Frederick Douglass elaborated on this underlying contradiction and moral failure of the United States. Specifically, his speech, What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?, demonstrates the concepts of the True and the Good as established in the Platonic framework as he pursues both concepts by proving their opposites to be true for the United States.
The reality of the matter, only known to the mother and father, is that the status quo of racist policies prohibited the Lordes from dining in the car. Lorde appeals to the reader’s pathos by subconsciously creating empathy for Lorde as she struggles with her parents not being truthful about foundational aspect of mid 1900’s American society – racism. Moreover, the use of situational irony is shrewdly expressed in Lorde’s interpretation of her family’s D.C. trip: “…the waitress was white, and the counter was white, and the ice cream I never ate in Washington DC was white and the white heat and the white pavement and the white stone monuments of my first Washington summer made me sick to my stomach…” (para. 24). Employing vivid imagery of how Lorde perceives her recently awoken sense of actual reality, she is able to express her understanding of the displeasing disparity between superior Whites and inferior Blacks. Unlike her jaded parents, Lorde expected the United States’ capital to uphold the same virtues it was founded upon – freedom, equality, liberty. Ironically, she finds Washington D.C. to be filled with inherent discrimination. Consequently the reasoning for Lorde’s blatant irony in her essay’s title: “The Fourth of July”. July 4th is supposed to represent the day the American founders broke away from an oppressive British rule to mark the birth of a free land. Paradoxically, they created a regime that was was more oppressive than the British. The racist foundation of the new nation is not exposed until the understanding of Thomas Jefferson’s implication of the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Constitution. These “men” strictly refer to the elite men that have conquered this new land of America – property-owning white men. Thus, women and those of color were not recognized as entities that possessed inalienable rights. Founding a
In the short story, “Fourth of July”, Audre Lord transmits the main message of how one should resist and retaliate when afflicted to prejudice. Lorde displays the message of prejudice early in the story when she describes the complications Phyllis had trying to get to Washington D.C. with her high school senior class, just because she is a different skin color as the others. Lorde writes “Phyllis’s high school senior class trip had been to Washington, but the nuns had given her back her deposit in private, explaining to her that the class, all of whom were white, except Phyllis, would be staying in a hotel where Phyllis ‘Would not be happy,’ meaning, Daddy explained to her, also in private, that they did not rent rooms to Negroes. ‘We will