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An Analysis of Frederick Douglass' Narratives
An Analysis of Frederick Douglass' Narratives
Civil war and the freedom of slaves
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Maryland Slave Experience and what is 4th of July to a slave This work is part of Frederick Douglass book: “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” at Bedford/St. Martin 's; 2nd edition (December 25, 2002), and it is about Frederick Douglass Experience as a slave in Maryland and does 4th of July meant to a slave. Frederick Douglass was an African-America who was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, in Talbot County, Maryland. When he started writing “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” he was not sure of his age. He was son a slave woman and a white man. He was separated from his mom at an early age. As a slave, Frederick Douglass did not have a really tough experience, since the place where he was with …show more content…
No, they are bloody from necessity. Slavery makes it necessary for the slaveholder to commit all conceivable outrages upon the miserable slave. It is impossible to hold the slaves in bondage without this.” In this speech he makes the people understand the horrendous times the slaves had to pass. The book itself helps understand the point of view of Frederick and the themes he is concern about, such as: Slaveholder oppression to the slaves, black people rights, and looking for freedom. We will see other themes later on when we talk about his speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July.” Other themes were touched such as: ignorance as a tool of slavery and knowledge as a path to freedom. Slaves were prohibited to learn. The more ignorant, the better. Frederick even said that: “Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to …show more content…
This speech had a big important message to all Americans and African American people. The Main theme of this speech is that even thought that America was a country who was celebrating his independence on the 4th of July, it meant nothing for the black people. Nothing changed, only the slaveholders, because they were still slaves. Even thought it was a day of celebration for the white Americans, it was still a day of pain and sadness for the slaves like him, his message was that if America was a free country then the slaves needed to be free as well, to celebrate the independence of their
He was seeking to persuade the whites that were present, but to also remind any African Americans there that the 4th of July, like many other American traditions, was not theirs to celebrate.
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.
The “Fourth of July Oration” and the gathering that Douglass was attending was constructed to serve an early ceremony for Independence Day. He begins his speech with the subject of America’s independence. Specifics of the nation such as the memories of the Revolution, the model of freedom for all individuals, and religious support were spoken about. Frederick shares his experiences as a child. He believed that the American slave-trade was a horrific event that became real for a majority of individuals. When young, Douglass witnessed the disgust that all slaves had to experience, “my soul was often pierced…” (p. 267) He would watch the slave ships being anchored, ones that held innocent individuals. It was difficult and absolutely absurd for anybody to watch such torture take place and not be able to do a single thing ...
Frederick Douglass was an enslaved person and was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He had no knowledge of his accurate age like most of the enslaved people. He believed that his father was a white man, and he grew up with his grandmother. Douglass and his mother were separated when he was young, which was also common in the lives of the enslaved people. This concept of separation was used as a weapon to gain control of the enslaved people. In short, despite the obstacles he had to endure, he was able to gain an education and fight for his freedom in any means necessary.
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
It was a remarkable articulation of the Black people voice living in the United States of America at that point of time because Black people were going through too much humiliation on physical and moral levels (Andrews, 1991, p.46). In order to get to the gist of the speech and reveal the emotional resonance it creates, a historical background timeline needs to be sketched. The period of the 1850s in the USA was especially tough for slaves due to several significant events that happened within this period of time. First of all, there was the Nashville Convention held on June 3, 1850, the goal of which was to protect the rights of slaveholders and extend the dividing line northwards. September 18 of the same year brought the Fugitive Slave Act, according to which the slave who managed to escape from his owner to the free state was to be caught and later returned back with all the consequences to follow.... ...
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey (or better known as Frederick Douglass) was born in 1818 to a black mother and a white father. Despite this unfavorable beginning, he was – and still is, to this day – universally recognized as a symbol for freedom. He dedicated his entire life towards earning rights like freedom and the right to vote for African American people.
n Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave is the 4th of July, he presents a simple yet morally complex argument. In his letter, Douglass states that it is hypocritical for a country to celebrate its freedom and separation from another country, yet still have slavery alive and well in the United States. Morally, this issue is a pretty straightforward argument and the very definition of hypocritical. Douglass also touches upon his belief that all men and women are equal, as stated in the constitution, yet slaves are subhuman. Another topic touched on is the contributing factors that perpetuate the constant and unjust nature of how slaves are treated, such as religion, agricultural, and over all demeanor towards slaves.
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.
When first introduced to Douglass and his story, we find him to be a young slave boy filled with information about those around him. Not only does he speak from the view point of an observer, but he speaks of many typical stereotypes in the slave life. At this point in his life, Frederick is inexperienced and knows nothing of the pleasures of things such as reading, writing, or even the rights everyone should be entitled to. Douglass knowing hardly anything of his family, their whereabouts, or his background, seems to be equivalent to the many other slaves at the time. As a child Frederick Douglass sees the injustices around him and observes them, yet as the story continues we begin to see a change.
In addition, every single night when he would be in bed he would always sleep terrified due to the horrifying things he would witness. Most of his days as being a slave he would suffer of hunger or thirst. Or most of the nights he would sleep cold shivering floor with no food in his body system. Douglass was bailed at the plantation without even knowing. So now he had no one in his family near him. Frederick never recovered from betrayal, slavery, and racism. Also every ...
The first element of slavery that Frederick attacks is that slavery puts constraints on a slave’s individuality. In his narrative, he states that slaves were compared to animals by the way the slave owner treated them because slaves were considered as property and not as human beings. When slaves came into the new world, they were sold and given new names and over time were supposed to assimilate to the American culture. Since slave masters did not think slaves could assimilate to the American culture, slave masters kept them as workers; therefore, slaves were not given an education, leaving them illiterate, and thereby leaving them without any knowledge on how the American political system works. Slave owners thought that if slaves would become literate, that slaves would start to question the rights they have. Frederick argues that slaves l...
Douglass was born a slave in 1817, in Maryland. He educated himself and became determined to escape the horror of slavery. He attempted to escape slavery once, but failed. He later made a successful escape in 1838.
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.