Frederick Douglass Speeches

Throughout history, there have been many black-rights activists that use their power of speaking to fight injustice and promote equality. One of those activists, who fought for equality with the power of his words, was Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He had a vision of the roles of African Americans during and after the war to ensure they receive citizenship and freedom. Frederick Douglass faced many tribulations throughout his life and that only made his speeches for equality and justice that much more powerful because he was a victim of injustice. Douglass believed that if African Americans want to have citizenship and be seen as equals, they must prove that they deserve it. In order to prove that African Americans deserve citizenship, Douglass encouraged them to enlist and join the fight for equality. Although there were obstacles in seeing his vision implemented Douglass stood his ground and fought until his vision becomes reality.

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that of Declaration of Independence, extended for us" and "what have me or those I represent to do with your national independence?” He was starting how Americans were celebrating "freedom" and "independence" when nearly four million humans were kept as slaves and scraped from their rights and left nude and alone in the world. How can someone be so shallow to ask a former black slave to talk about freedom how shallow can someone be to speak of freedom in America when slavery still existed? Frederick Douglass grabs the audience’s attention by giving out strong diction in his speech as he says “above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wails of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them,” he is explaining that while Americans celebrate this so said freedom he still hears the cries of those slaves who suffer. And that it is becoming now less and less hard for people to hear out their shouts, In different occasions he use words like justice, Gratitude, Liberty, Prosperity, And independence. These loaded words that mean so much to the slaves words that seem almost impossible for them to obtain words they seek to keep nut cant. Words that America thinks can only ne for those whom face is dressed in

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

He tells them that slavery is in contradiction of what the founding fathers valued and believed in, as well as what they fought for. Frederick says the founding fathers believed in freedom and equality. The same things they fought to get away from, are the same things white Americans were doing to African Americans in that present time. He says in his speech, “Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit earnestly sought redress,” (404). This quote is an example of how the founding fathers were feeling under England’s government, and how Frederick Douglass was relating it to how blacks were getting treated and how they felt throughout the United States in that present time. He wanted white Americans to recognize how they were portraying their nation. Another way he gets his audience to recognize what they were doing was wrong was by using their emotions to trigger shame and disappointment within themselves. Mr. Douglass shames them by comparing them to their founding fathers, who they look up to and celebrated. He says in the speech, “You live and must die, and you must do your own work…You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence,” (407), to shame his audience on not carrying on the principles and morals that the founding fathers worked so hard to gain. Another example of him guilting his audience is when he

On July 4, 1852, former slave and American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass is invited to speak before an abolitionist audience in Rochester, New York. Although the speech should address the greatness and freedom of the nation on independence day, Frederick Douglass uses his platform to display his displeasure with the meaning of freedom in white America. Therefore, the sole purpose of his speech is to unmask the hypocrisy of a nation who dares celebrate freedom and independence while keeping African American slaves. To Douglass, the 4th of July is a constant reminder of the unfairness of the political and social core of the nation. As a social activist and most importantly a former slave, Frederick Douglass uses multiple rhetorical strategies to indict America on the immoral practice of slavery.

The issue Douglass show is, America now has the freedom but why is freedom not granted to the selected few. “The Declaration of Independence is a ringbolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so indeed, I regard it”(Douglass pg2). Douglass explains that the way America has been granted independence is not the right way to go about it. Being a slave during the time Douglass see’s that independence was given to all Americans, except for the black race. Given the right to speak Douglass believes, why would the American people give him the right to say his opinion if a slave’s word doesn’t change anything. To an American the black race is owned property. Containing the slaves and indentured servants(black race) as property they are given no freedom. “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” (Douglass pg4). Douglass reveals that man is to him the same as the British against the American’s. A black or any other race deserves the same treatment as anyone

Through his crafty use of rhetoric, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of America in his self-referential speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” The speech articulated his passionate pursuit for liberty and equal rights. Douglass’s speech passionately argued that in the eyes of the slave and even the “free” black

Douglass also served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for blacks. Douglass provided a powerful voice for human rights during this period of our American history. Frederick Douglass was also worked very hard in the women’s rights movement. He once said

Douglass continues to talk about how they all came to celebrate the fourth of July, but to remember that the nation is still young and has room for positive change. Douglass then asks this question, "Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” (p.407) By us Douglas is meaning blacks. This is supported by when he states that, “This Fourth of July is yours not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” (p.408) Slaves and former slaves like Douglass are only saddened on Independence Day because they still have no independence to cheer for. They were lied to and taken for granted after all the work they did to earn equal rights. To ask black people to celebrate the White man’s freedom is only teasing and disrespectful irony.

In this book Fredrick Douglass finds shows himself growing up as a slave in Baltimore, Maryland. He eventually escapes from his master and becomes a run away slave as he flees to the north. Douglass however is most popularly known for his pressure on the supreme court to obtain equal rights for African American citizens. He made huge advances in civil rights for his fellow African American brothers and sisters. His contributions have caused a balancing of society that is still getting better to this day.

Frederick Douglass was one of the most influential men of the anti-slavery movement. He stood up for what he believed in, fought hard to get where he got and never let someone tell him he could not do something. Frederick Douglass made a change in this country that will always be remembered.

Frederick Douglass affected the progress of the Civil Rights Movement. He had a vision of America achieving freedom and equal rights for all. Frederick Douglass was inspired to help others because of how he was treated during his child life, growing up a child of slaves. So therefore he made autobiographies of how his life was while he was a slave and how he

Frederick Douglass was another abolitionist who also spoke out vigorously about slavery. He himself was an emancipated slave who fought for the abolishment of slavery. He fought to demonstrate that it was crude, unnatural, ungodly, immoral, and unjust. During a July 4th Celebration he made it known that he despised the treatment of the slaves. He explained that this hypocrisy was aimed at the black population and so in his speech on the Fourth of July celebration he proclaimed to the anti-slavery individuals that “This Fourth of July is yours not mine” and “You may rejoice, I must mourn”. Frederick Douglass quoted from the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal; and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. He wondered if the rights that are stated in the Declaration of Independence, apply to everyone in America, because he believed they should. He asked the question what the Fourth of July was to an American slave, and responded, to the American slaves that one day, is full of hyprocrisy. He wondered how people could celebrate liberty and equality where there was slavery in America. In support of his idea of how sorrow slavery was Douglas used imagery. He stated, “I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I

Frederick Douglass was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. Frederick Douglass was the most important black American leader of the nineteenth century. He was born in February of the 1818 and died February 20, 1895. Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave published in 1845, less than seven years after Douglass escaped from slavery. Douglass immortalized his years as a slave in the book.