On June 8, 1849 Fredrick Douglass, an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman was asked to speak to a delegation in Boston, Massachusetts, about the prejudice and bias argument of Clay Henry’s plans for gradual emancipation and forcible expatriation of African Americans in Kentucky back to Africa. In this speech, Douglass makes a larger argument that the expatriation of African Americans is quite jaded by political and church leaders prejudice and racist ideals in failing to see slaves as humans, but most importantly fellow American Citizens.
In this paper I will be using the African American Criticism to critique the speech of Fredrick Douglass 1849, at Faneuil Hall [on Henry Clay's gradual emancipation plan and the
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role of the American Colonization Society]. This text has the tenets and overtone of the African American criticism which makes it the perfect text to use for this criticism. Fredrick Douglass’s speech at Faneuil Hall helped changed the fundamental ways in which not only the country, but also in how the world viewed racism. I will use the three terms of the African American criticism to show how encompasses the ideologies and tenets of what the African American criticism is. Those three terms are the institutionalized racism, voice of color, and double consciousness/double vision. These terms are a constant overtone through Douglas’s speech to combat the idea that racism is not something you are born with but something that you are taught and developed over time. For many people, the church is one place you are spared from judgment and critique.
It is the one place you should feel safe, to express your thoughts and opinions, pray to the higher power in which you believe and your faith resides and be free of society's qualms, demands, and realism. In a part of his speech, Douglass addresses the church and how it is an institutionalized racist structure. “There is a lecturer in the shape of the Rev. Mr. Miller, of New Jersey, now in England, soliciting funds for our expatriation from this country, and going about trying to organize a society, and to create an impression in favor of removing us from this country.” (1849) Consequently, the fact that a reverend of the church is the one leading movement of the exile of African Americans from the United States back to Africa speaks volumes. Retroactively the church and the Reverend Miller do not believe in abortion, but they want to erase African American from the land. This dais of institutionalized racism also plays itself out in today’s society as well. This is proved by the very ideologies of Tyson’s, African American Criticism, which main concepts are to give voice and recognition to African American literature and
work. I am sure that if you ask any literary scholars about this particular speech and the events that Douglas mentioned about the Reverend, you would not find too many people who have any ounce of knowledge about it. Moreover this speaks to the white privilege overtone in today’s society, where the education system teaches about African American culture and struggle, but only to the degree where student are censored to the things educational oppressor wants them to know. Furthermore, this goes to show the racial realism that is happening in a society that many are referring to as “post racial.” Students are not knowledgeable to the vast contributions African Americans made in America and that is the truly the works of institutional racism. This theorizes Fredrick Douglas argument in the sense that, prejudice is not something that is born within you, but the cause of individual idealism which is further supported by societal institutions. Double consciousness/double vision as defined in Lois Tyson’s, Critical Theory Today 3rd Edition is “the awareness of belonging to two conflicting cultures …” (Tyson, 2014). Any rational person would agree that if they help to fight and protect a country, then they too should be treated equally, they too should be looked upon with pride and honor, not othering, prejudice and scorn. Throughout his speech we are exposed to the vernacular customs in which Douglas spoke to the ethics of double consciousness/double vision. In one part of his speech where he addressed the hall Douglas stated, “We have other claims to being regarded and treated as American citizens. Some of our number have fought and bled for this country, and we only ask to be treated as well as those who have fought against it. We are lovers of this country, and we only ask to be treated as well as the haters of it.” Vernacular customs of double consciousness/double vision is expressed in this statement in the way that he pleads with his audience in a patriotic way. His use of not only the black language that is intellectualized in Tyson’s African American Criticism, but he also speaks to the double conscious patriotism that he identifies with as, not only an American man, but also as an African slave who only wants his American experience and freedom to be constituted as the same as any of his fellow white patriotic citizen. Ultimately, what this does as a tenet of the African American Criticism is critique the way in which Douglass, eliquate his black patriotic language to appeal to his audience and the nation about prejudice and racism. He is able to be the voice of reason and make the larger point that prejudice and racism should be the larger picture. The nation look down on blacks who have shed blood for a country who won’t accept them as equals because of the phonotypical makeup of their DNA that they have no control of. Lastly, Douglas proves to be the voice of color and is able to better critique the American views of prejudice and racism by using personal anecdotes. In his speech Douglas recalled, “Our president, in his earlier intercourse with me, taught me, by example his abhorrence of this prejudice. He has, in my presence, stated to those who visited him, that if they did not like to sit at the table with me, they could have a separate one for themselves.” This quote exemplifies Douglass’s experience with the former United States president, Abraham Lincoln. Douglass’s experience with the president proved that racist thoughts and ideologies are not something you were born with but rather something that is taught. What is ironic about Douglas addressing his experience with the president is that if we look back on the facts of history and then president Abraham Lincoln, we know that he was a slave holder. What makes this even more controversial is that even as a slaveholder in 1849, the late president was one who would go down in history as the president who “freed the slave,” due to the signing of the 1863 Emancipation of Proclamation that freed the slaves of the confederate south. However, when you consider the fact that he invited a former slave to sit at a table with him in a formal setting and saw nothing wrong with it, it further proves that racist/ prejudice thoughts and ideologies even if born with can be overcome. What the Critical Race Theory does is critique the federal laws in which blacks are oppressed. In the very essences of Douglas having dinner with the president in such public format, gives an excellent reverse critique of how accepting even the laws can be in the matter of prejudice. It was no surprise that during 1800’s, blacks no matter how prestige of a caliber you were would never be allowed to have the privilege of sitting with the president in such bold manner. The fact that Douglas was able to have that experience truly declares the fact that as former slave, his presences and intellect was not only wanted but welcomed with the president. In the grand scheme of things if you critique Douglass experience with the president in the reverse textual conceptions of the Critical Race Theory voice of color, it illustrates the symbolism of the president which represents one of the highest depictions of the law, accepting the realism that slaves are just as equal to everyone else. Correspondingly, Douglas also mentions in his speech the way in which the tenets of the CRT how it applies to our everyday lives. In his speech he states, “Wendell Phillips went abroad, exposing this proscription in the light of justice. What is the result? Not a single railroad can be found in any part of Massachusetts, where a colored man is treated and esteemed in any other light than that of a man and a traveler.” This speaks to prejudice in context of blacks’ everyday lives. A simple act of having one person stands with blacks with something as their freedom to travel in peace speaks volumes to white ignorance to the privilege they have, and racial realism of the time to something as simple as traveling bothered on a railroad train. Throughout the speech “Prejudice Not Natural,” Douglass provides his audience with many logical reasons why racism is not natural but rather learned. Whether we all agree or not prejudice is alive and strong in today’s society and Douglass and other Civil Rights activist who has fought against would be discourage to know that America’s society has regressed instead of progress in moving forward on the issue of racism and prejudice. The overtone of the African American Criticism make justifiable arguments of Douglass’s points and how the nation as a whole view racism and prejudice. We cannot expect prejudice or racism to vanish overnight unless people in today’s society recognize that yes, race and racism is a very big issue, institutional structural changes need to be reformed from the governmental level all the way down to academia. Douglass’ compelling arguments stand to prove that prejudice in society should not exist; he asserts that it can be overcome and I support his stance.
Douglass as both the author and narrator in his novel took readers through his escape from slavery. Specifically mentioned in chapter seven of the book, the author expressed his new skill of reading and how that inspired his freedom. Douglass utilized rhetorical devices in chapter seven, such as pathos and personification to illustrate to his audience how his education motivated him to achieve liberation. Douglass’ effective use of emotion throughout the chapter made his experiences appeal to readers. Also, the first and last sentences of chapter seven served as bookends to show how education influenced Douglass’ freedom because within those two phrases there was a portion of Douglass’ journey told on how he escaped salvation. Lastly, Douglass’
The hopeful and then helpless tones in Douglass' passage reflect his inner turmoil throughout the process of his escape from the wretched south. At first, Frederick Douglass feels the utter feeling of happiness covering every inch of his body and soul. However, he soon finds out that the rosy path has thorns that dug into his skin as freedom was dangled in front of his face through a tunnel of complete darkness.
Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, about the devastation associated with slavery and the destruction from which comes desperation. Douglass intends to summon upon the guilt and empathy of his white audience by giving an account from which the reader is able to coax up a new perspective on the dreadful oppression. Seen especially in the third paragraph where Douglass provides a series of rhetorical devices including: apostrophe, anaphora, personification, exemplum, and epithet in his sorrowful bellowing to passing ships.
After suffering the overwhelming ferociousness and inhumanity of being a slave for over two decades , a black man by the name of Fredrick Douglass fled from enslavement and began to make a concerted effort to advance himself as a human being. Combating many obstacles and resisting numerous temptations, Douglass worked assiduously to develop into a knowledgeable gentleman rather than the involuntary alternative of being an unenlightened slave. In doing so, Douglass successfully immerged as one of the Civil War era’s most prominent antislavery orators. From his first major public speech at the age of 23, Douglass became widely renowned as a premier spokesperson for Black slaves and the movement for the abolition of slavery. In one of Douglass’ most distinguished speeches, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” he uses the intermittent occasion of speaking on behalf of African Americans to a multitude of White Americans to outline arguments against slavery. In that very speech, Douglass made it clear that, like countless African Americans during this time period,
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave narrative published in 1845, Frederick Douglass divulged his past as a slave and presented a multifaceted argument against slavery in the United States. Douglass built his argument with endless anecdotes and colorful figurative language. He attempted to familiarize the naïve Northerners with the hardships of slavery and negate any misconstrued ideas that would prolong slavery’s existence in American homes. Particularly in chapter seven, Douglass both narrated his personal experience of learning to write and identified the benefits and consequences of being an educated slave.
1.) Fredrick Douglass’s purpose in this speech was to explain the wrongfulness of slavery in America. Fredrick Douglass states in his speech “Are the great principles of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” and “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me.” These prove that the freedom and independence Americans have aren’t shared with the Africans when it should be that Africans have those rights as well. Frederick Douglass then talked about how badly whites treat blacks and how wrong it is. “There are 72 crimes in Virginia which, if committed by a black man, subject him to a punishment of death, while
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass written by Frederick Douglass himself is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery's dehumanizing capabilities. The style of this famous autobiography can be best described as personal, emotional, and compelling. By writing this narrative, Douglass wants his audience to understand him. He does this by speaking informally like a person would when writing a letter or telling a story to a friend. By clearly establishing his credibility and connecting with his audience, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices to argue for the immorality of slavery.
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.”
As an abolitionist and previous slave, Frederick Douglass comprehended that the way to opportunity and full citizenship for African American men walked strai...
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
Slavery consisted of numerous inhumane horrors completed to make its victims feel desolated and helpless. Many inescapable of these horrors of slavery are conveyed in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The entire prospect of the duration of the story is to plan an escape from the excruciating conditions awaiting Douglass as a slave. When his escape is finally executed, unpredictable emotions and thoughts overwhelm him. Within the conclusion of his narrative (shown in the given passage), Frederick Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and syntax to portray such states of mind he felt after escaping slavery: relief, loneliness, and paranoia.
On July 5th of 1852, the Ladies Antislavery Society of Rochester requested that emancipated slave, Fredrick Douglass, speak for their celebration of the United States’ national independence. Douglass accepted this request and presented a powerful speech that explained and argued his true beliefs and feelings concerning this event. He considered their decision to request him as a speaker on that day to be a mockery of his past and of the ongoing status of blacks as slaves in America at the time. Nevertheless, Douglass skillfully constructed his speech utilizing various methods that forced his audience to take him seriously and think twice about the issue of slavery in America. His passion about the subject, his ability to captivate his audience, and his persuasive skills combine to form a clearly effective speech that continues to be studied to this day. Douglass warmed up his audience by commending the moral and patriotic excellence of their forefathers. He then delivered the argument of his speech which cleverly criticized the hypocrisy of the institution of slavery and those who tolerated or supported it. Yet, to conclude his speech, Douglass asserts that there is still hope for the young nation so as not to leave the audience completely discouraged. The way in which Douglass constructed and delivered this speech had a lasting impact and left his audience with an effectively argued point to consider.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
In this final research analysis, I will be doing a comparison between the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” and the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” to show how both Douglass and Rowlandson use a great deal of person strength and faith in God to endure their life and ultimately gain their freedom.
Society is so deceivable into believing that what is accepted by society is also correct and reasonable. One would not usually question the humanity of customs if one benefits in return. Frederick Douglass wrote The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as a way to depict the development of a dehumanized slave progressing into a free man. Frederick Douglass did not start to reconstruct his own self identity until he broke the bindings of being ignorant which his masters placed upon him.