What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Summary

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Frederick Douglas speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” was one of the most memorable and moving speeches of the Douglass’s career. On July 5, 1852, Douglass was invited to Rochester, New York to speak on behalf of the African American community on their thoughts of the fourth of July. Independence Day was supposed to be a celebration of freedom for the United States but, as the speech detailed, this day was and still is a mockery to the slave or African American citizen. When Frederick Douglas spoke on behalf of the slave on that memorable day, he really explained the condition on the African Americans during those times, which still holds true throughout society today. In his speech, Douglas starts off by expressing the nervousness that he experienced while standing in front of the crowd, and the gratitude that he felt for the opportunity to speak in front of people whom he had had the pleasure of meeting before. Once he expressed his appreciation and hopes that the crowd would be patient and understanding of his thoughts and the manner that they were put together, he went into the topic in which he was invited to upon. He began to go into the history of the American Revolutionaries' …show more content…

Frederick Douglass was intense and unapologetically true with many of the things that he spoke about in his speech on July 5, 1852. And whether they are popular today or not, they still serve as true statements on society today. Celebrating Independence Day while another group of people are suffering harsh conditions is not just hypocrisy; it is an insult to that group of people’s intelligence. Frederick Douglass in his moving, but perfectly spoken speech, showed how at that time, America had such a long way to go as a nation; and even though there has been some progression, still has a long way to go as far as people being treated with their due

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