Speech : African American Communities About The Hypocrisy Of The Church

He felt compelled to make sure the religion of the south will never be associated with Christianity. They are total opposites. He wrote, “to be a friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land” (Appendix, Page by Page Books). Although Douglass refers to the slaveholding religion as Christianity, it is merely out of sarcasm. Any man or woman who refuses to teach a human being how to read the Bible to understand the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, is not a Christian. Douglass refers the religious slaveholders as the Pharisees. He wrote, “the Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may be as truly said as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees…All their works they do for to be seen of men” (Appendix, Page by Page Books). Everything the “Christians” did was not for God, but to make themselves look better. Actions always prove what someone puts their faith in. Their actions proved they either did not believe in God or did not respect Him. How can one preach on how to serve God, yet disregard everything He told you to do? The religious slaveholders did it to get mans approval despite the fact that their actions made the thought of Christianity unbearable to those who saw their evils. They put their faith in earthly things. They did not care what happened as long as they were rich and had a good

Since the arrival of African Americans in this country blacks have always had differing experiences. Consequently, African-Americans have had to forge a self-identity out of what has been passed on to them as fact about their true selves. History has wrought oppression and subjugation to this particular race of people and as a result, certain institutions were formed in order aid African-Americans, culturally, spiritually and economically. The African-American Church has served of one such institution. From the time of slavery, though outlawed, many slaves found ways to congregate and form their own "churches", away from the one-sided and bias lessons about the bible that they were being taught in the white church. The white ministers and

For the larger part of his life, Douglass believed in a living God and whom he knew can change the world. According to him, love and freedom were the most important foundations of Christianity. Therefore, it is his faith that pushed his hope that there would be an end to slavery and racial discrimination. It is critical to note that for many years,

Actually, it made him even more cruel and hateful and he made greatest pretensions to piety. He remained as a cruel slaveholder, but he prayed everyday and he proved himself an instrument in the hands of the church in converting many souls (Douglass, p. 77). However, his unconvincing performance and pretending as a Christian made him even crueler. Also, since he was a slaveholder and a Christian, he couldn’t avoid having a double life. He was a mean and cruel master and a hypocrite for his slaves, but he was a faithful Christian for other white Christians. His cruelty and double life are showing readers how slavery can impact the slaveholders in a negative way.

Frederick Douglass’ speech on American Slavery compares greatly to Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson. Banneker called Jefferson out for saying a lot of things with no action behind his words. Douglass does the same thing to the North. He makes an argument that the north claims to be against slavery, claiming that the south should abolish it, but Douglass calls them out on the fact that they are verbalizing their distaste for slavery with no action behind it to change the circumstances. Douglass, like Banneker, shows his intellect by delivering a tactful argument that gains respect. Douglass spends a substantial amount of time calling the north out on their Christianity, pointing out that if they were Christians they would do something about slavery, and not rely on empty words.

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

Frederick Douglass’ speech was a like a parent disciplining their children. Douglass tries to open the eyes of the American people the lies that they’ve been telling themselves. He also tells the people at this party that there is still hope but will take a group effort to get to this actual independence for all.

Frederick Douglass establishes his own ethos in the opening lines of the speech. He does so by questioning his oratorical authority to speak on freedom with the following rhetoric: “ Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? Frederick Douglass is not saying that he is a nobody, but out of everybody why would he, the former slave and abolitionist, be chosen to to speak on the celebration of freedom. But of course, Frederick Douglas resume suggests that he is educated, experienced and qualified enough to speak on freedom. He was born a slave in Maryland and experienced the horror of slavery first hand. He escaped from slavery and

When giving this speech Frederick Douglass gives a big purpose on why he is giving this speech in the first place. The purpose of Frederick Douglass giving this speech is that he wants everybody to be free from all the nonsense and to end people from being taken away from their families. “I am myself; you are yourself; we are two distinct persons equal persons. What you are, I am. You are a man, and so am I. God created both, and made us separate beings. We are distinct persons, and are each equally provided with faculties necessary to our individual existence.” (Ramsey, William) (Frederick Douglass, Southerner). This point talks about how Frederick Douglass feels like everybody is made by the same type of person and how everybody is born the same type of person. Frederick Douglass goes on to feel that we are given equal types of responsibilities to fulfill our life as a

Frederick Douglass was an important leader who helped fight for slaves freedom in the 19th Century. Religion played a major role in Mr. Douglass’s life. In his autobiography, he describes his daily struggles of being a slave and how he escaped to freedom. In his narrative, he explains the way his masters would beat, rape, and murder slaves, but only to use their Christian beliefs to explain why they did it and basically use it as an excuse. Douglass himself was also a Christian and explains in his autobiography that the religious views of the masters were very different from the religious views the slaves had. Frederick Douglass composed his autobiography to explain that the master's view of Christianity was unholy and if there was no change to be made, it could continue and lead to an increase in sacrilegious acts.

……In 1845 an extraordinary piece of work by Frederick Douglass was published “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”; this was the life of a man who through many adversities stood tall with his head in the heavens. Douglass was the more proactive abolitionist as his work was to demolish slavery while detailing his life experience as a slave and expressing is deep emotions and theory on slavery. In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” he expresses the way religion and its literature, the bible, had an effect not only on slavery but also with white Christianity. His position on slavery was strong and compelling. Douglass used powerful authoritative words from the start of his narrative to grasp our hold and attention and keep us enflamed while realizing God is embedded in the words. ……Phillis Wheatley overcame obstacles most people would quiver against. She showed us slavery and she showed us faith. In the poem, she tells us “Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand” (Wheatley, line 1-2) Right from the beginning , Wheatley shows us religion through her use of subtle but powerful words. She uses the words “Mercy, Pagan

In other words, Frederick Douglass does not hate nor blame the Christian Church, he loathes those who use it as an excuse to justify their actions. Their religion does not dictate their persona, there are good Christians and there are bad Christians.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church also known as the AME Church, represents a long history of people going from struggles to success, from embarrassment to pride, from slaves to free. It is my intention to prove that the name African Methodist Episcopal represents equality and freedom to worship God, no matter what color skin a person was blessed to be born with. The thesis is this: While both Whites and Africans believed in the worship of God, whites believed in the oppression of the Africans’ freedom to serve God in their own way, blacks defended their own right to worship by the development of their own church. According to Andrew White, a well- known author for the AME denomination, “The word African means that our church was

The history of religion in the United States comes a long way dating from the early 1600s when the first pilgrim settlers came to this country. It has been noted that these settlers were highly influenced by the Protestant faith which led to a community level of influence in this country as well. The faith of theses settlers were motivated from the New World of Europe where they practiced their religion in a peaceful environment. Later in history, it was noted that people of Spanish decent started the famous network of the Catholic missions in California. When California became a part of the United States, Catholic churches and institutes were formed. These churches and institutes were also formed in New Orleans and Louisiana.

I jumped at the opportunity to complete the extra credit assignment because of the topic. I have always wanted to attend an African American Baptist Church. I was raised Catholic in a predominantly white community and for the chance to experience something different was appealing. I’ve seen the stereotypes in movies and on TV about what an African American Baptist church looks like but I wanted to experience it myself. I wasn’t sure on what to expect but kept an open mind about the situation.