Straight From a Slave Fredrick Douglass stood in front of the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on July 5th, 1852. Douglass’ speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, touches on the universal theme of racial injustice. He spoke passionately, and deliberately about the cruel life as a slave, while americans celebrated being free when they couldn’t even free people in their own country. He captured the attention of everyone standing in Rochester, New York. 153 years laters on July 11th, 2005, Marie Fatayi- Williams delivered a powerful, moving speech, Straight From the Heart. Every listener in London stood listening and unconsciously gravitating to her story and feeling her exact emotions. She stood heart broken over the loss of her innocent son, because of evil acts of terrorism. Two completely different people. Two completely different topics. Though their subjects are polar opposites, both speaker employ ethos and pathos to appeal to their audiences and connect to them through the heartlessness, and hatred of people and their actions. Douglass’s voice entered every listener and moved them. “I say with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of the glorious celebration. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us” (Faigley page 378). This was his opening. Just by that sentence you can hear the pain, the anger, and the sadness in his voice. He know first hand that he is not treated like he is equal. He was robbed of his freedom and his dignity. People are drawn to him because he speaks the hard truth. He explains the unimaginable to delicate ears. Douglass explains the way they were treated and talked about. “ The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness” (Faigley page 384) Any mother with tender hearts would be moved by those words. He persuades people to side with him, and feel for him. He wants people to be upset by his words so that things will get changed. “What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant
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
Overall, Douglass accomplishing in writing a powerful persuasive and powerful slave narrative by ascertaining profound pathos, ethos and logos to support his claim. He makes up his ideas in order to strongly denounce slavery and gives people more information to know. He generates sympathy and compassion from readers and audiences and also appeals their emotion, Douglass is a great author that should be remembered by people who lives in United
One of the strongest pieces of evidence the author uses in support of their argument is, “At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed… For is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder… The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled… and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.” What Douglass tries to accomplish is to tell the citizens that words will not make a difference if they want change. Only violence can make an impact because the slaves’ voices are not really being heard. This evidence is strong because Douglass attempts to use the rhetorical appeal of pathos in
Frederick Douglass was a gifted speaker. He wanted to convince a crowd of hundreds that were gathered together to celebrate Independence Day not only about the hypocrisy of slavery, but also to essentially “sting the conscience of America (Braswell).” When Douglass was asked to speak on Independence Day, there were still more than 3.5 million African Americans enslaved (Braswell). Throughout his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights for African Americans. That brings us to the first theme, which is inequality. In our past readings, this has been a prevalent theme. For example, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, we saw slavery with the peasants and the inequality within the aristocracy. In Benito Cereno, we were able to see slavery with African Americans. In this reading, however, we get to see first hand someone calling out the American people and voicing that slavery should be eliminated. In our past readings we have seen many forms of “heroes.” My question for the
Message: Douglass wants his audience, the American public, to know that he earned his freedom. Freedom is something that each of us must look for in order to be truly “free.” Through the personal experiences of his own life as a slave and his perseverance to become educated, Douglass shows us that it requires persistence and bravery to look for freedom. He also illustrates to the audience that there is no real end in this search for freedom until slavery is fully abolished.
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
He begins by appealing to the feelings of the american audience: pride. Douglass talks about the forefathers and their accomplishments. Douglass goes on to use pathos again when he states, “ The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation’s history- the very ringbolt in the chain of your yet underdeveloped destiny.” When Douglass says “The freedom gained is yours,” he is trying to convey that freedom is not for the blacks of America at this time. Whites are the only people allowed to freely exercise their freedom. Blacks are not free, for there is still slavery. The fact that a black man like Douglass is speaking at an event for the independence of America is a literal
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
Douglass uses empathy and also addresses the opposing view in a respectful manner. These reasons make the beginning of the speech so strong and so effective. Douglass use of powerful word choices are also having a impact on the audience and on the speech. Another appeal that Douglass uses throughout his speech is pathos. Pathos causes the audience to feel very emotional and allow them to feel what Douglass the slaves feel. A example of this, is located in the beginning after Douglass’s use of ethos, “Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them…..I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon,” Douglass uses pathos by describing a upsetting scene of what occurs when Americans are celebrating their freedom on the Fourth of July while slaves still await for their freedom to
Sweat rolled down the backs of an attentive audience. Despite the sweltering temperature, a crowd had gathered to listen to a renowned orator celebrate the birthday of their fine new nation. The day was July 5th, 1852, and Frederick Douglass was poised to deliver what would soon become his most famous speech, “What to the Slave, Is the Fourth of July?” Commissioned to be a cheerful hurrah, it instead scathes the unexpected audience, bringing to light the overabundance of hypocrisies dwelling in America’s Independence Day celebration. Asked simply to give a speech, Frederick Douglass seizes the opportunity
Frederick Douglass writes his speeches in a way that makes the audience jump. He writes them with true feeling and power, which can only be accomplished by a person who has felt these many times in their life. Douglass’ Fourth of July speech, talks about him being a slave for the majority of his life, and how he is unable to relate to the joy felt by the rest of the Americans on the Fourth of July. He is “not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary!” and believes the Rochester Ladies Society, whom he is talking to’s “high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between” him and them, because his whole life Douglass wasn’t free and now can be taken back to slavery at any moment. By saying this,
What comes to mind when you think of the Fourth of July? Most people think of positive words such as freedom and independence (maybe even fireworks and cookouts). Unfortunately, if a slave in the 1850s was asked this same question, this person would most likely not think of such pleasant words. Slaves did not think of this day as a celebration and instead were saddened by the fact they did not have the freedom that the white people in America did. One of these people is Frederick Douglass, who was born a slave and remained a slave for twenty years before escaping from the oppression he faced. When he arrived in the North, which was where a slave could be free, he became a great writer and speaker, and he told many about the cruelty of slavery. One of his famous speeches, called “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” was given on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, at an event in the Corinthian Hall. The purpose of the event was to celebrate America’s signing of the Declaration of Independence, 76 years before. However, this was not the purpose of Douglass’s speech. He instead used this opportunity to tell the perspective of slaves on this day. Frederick Douglass hopes to inspire his audience to see how and why the celebration of a country that allows such an immoral practice to occur is inappropriate, and why he will instead be mourning on this holiday. In establishing this idea, Douglass incorporates rhetorical devices that hit all three points of the rhetorical
“What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work