The Fourth Of August By Audre Lorde

Both equality and liberty are important qualities for a nation to rise to prosperity and peace in any country. In Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Fredrick Douglass’s Fourth of July speech, the importance of voicing one’s concern is central to improving society. Alexis De Tocqueville shows that the quality of condition is more important than liberty in our American Democracy. While on the other hand, Douglass notes that our known 4th of July is a time to consider those who are inferior, and that liberty is just as important as equality in American society.

The “Declaration of Independence” was written by one of the most accomplished of our nation’s founders, Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration was written during a time in which American Colonists tried to resolve their issues with Great Britain. On the other hand, former slave Frederick Douglass gives a speech on the topic of the Fourth of July called “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”. Both men believed freedom was a right that is natural to all people. In order to persuade their audiences of this, each author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to support their argument.

Although it took almost fifty years after the American Revolutionary War was over, on July 4th and 5th, 1827, African American New Yorkers celebrated the passage of legislation that would finally free them from the bondage of slavery (11). In her book, In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863, Leslie M. Harris’s thesis is that class status was essential in the development of the black community in New York City from the moment they landed on Manhattan Island in 1626 (14). Harris also argued that the issue of slavery and emancipation of blacks in New York was an item that was brought up constantly, but elite white New Yorkers always hesitated on implementing legislation due to their constituent’s reliance on slave labor, their elite racist views of blacks (in general) as inferior (96), and the

In the essay “The Fourth of July,” Audre Lorde expresses that she has “always hated the Fourth of July, even before she came to realize the travesty such a celebration was for black people” (10) and in the process, she tells of the irony behind the celebration. Lorde develops her ideas by telling a childhood memory of her and her family visiting Washington D.C. where she is faced with the harsh reality of unequal rights for African Americans. Using personal accounts from her trip, she discloses the racism she faced in order to show the causticity of The Independence Day celebration. Lorde’s ostensible audience is African Americans because she opens and closes the essay by directly addressing them and giving them the support that they need in

The Fourth of July is about America’s freedom, yet it is ironic to be celebrated when people of a different race are not allowed to celebrate freedom. Our fathers fought for freedom of all, not for different races to have more control of life than others. They fought for the equality of all and for everyone to have the freedom they deserve. “With them, nothing was settled that was not great. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final. Not slavery and oppression” (Douglass 2). The people who fought for our freedom believed they were fighting for the liberty of all, instead slavery still existed in society. To slaves, the Fourth of July is not the day of celebrating freedom, it is just another day of hard work and without liberty. “To him your celebration is a sham, your boasted liberty, your national greatness… your shouts of liberty and equality” (Douglass 4). The irony of American freedom falls where the constitution lies since the constitution is looked at as the liberty document of an unliberated and unequal country. “If the constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave holding instrument, neither slavery , slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it” (Douglass 4). Slavery is not part of the “Glorious liberty document” so why is is able to exist? It should not be acceptable to call

In “The Fourth of July” written by Audre Lorde, an author and poet who took it upon herself to confront and address issues of racism, she describes the time she took a trip during the summer to Washington, D.C., where she obtained her own memory and meaning of independence. In her essay she shares with readers an account of experiencing racism on a day of the celebration of freedom. Lorde conveys her anger regarding her parents avoidance of racism and more specifically how she felt about the people and society surrounding her by her usage of specific tone, the repetition of words, and irony.

Audre Lorde’s essay “The Fourth of July” explores a childhood family trip and the way it opened her eyes to racism in America. Lorde allows the reader to better understand her emotions in response to this by sharing specific details or language that conveys her idealized expectations of D.C., as well as her unawareness of racism she will find there. This allows the reader to empathize with her when she relates her naivety, ignorance, and uncertainty both before, after, and during her trip to D.C. During and after the trip, Lorde feels overcome by the suppressive authority of white people she perceives in the capital. Since she has not been uneducated on these subjects, Lorde feels overwhelmed by her new encounters there. Lorde’s enthusiastic mood before the trip, indicating her unawareness of what she will encounter, later dissolves into a sense confusion and exclusion from the wonderful things D.C. has to offer.

Douglass began his speech to the audience by asking a series of rhetorical questions in addition to the use of sarcasm. He referred to the Declaration of Independence as “that” instead of “the” Declaration stressing a separation between African-Americans and the freemen of the United States. He extended the use of his rhetoric by asking, “What have I or those, I represent, to do with your national independence?” Slaves, whose freedom is denied, do not share other Americans’ patriotic feelings regarding the Fourth of July. His use of these rhetorical questions was valid because it separated Douglass as a different man than the rest of his white audience. Furthermore, Douglass asked, "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?" He indicated that people knew in their hearts that all were entitled to freedom. Douglass demonstrated sarcasm in this principle of freedom, almost as if the aforementioned rhetorical question shouldn’t need to be stated. He further declared that the stigma separating free whites and enslaved African-Americans was blatantly foolish.

By supporting the Revolutionaries actions to break free from British Rule, Douglass alluded to the similar fight that the American population faced to attain the same liberty that white citizens had. With the same courage the Founding Fathers had to create a free country, the American generation of 1852 faced a similar test to uphold the values of the Declaration of Independence, and liberate American slaves.7 After applauding the Founding Fathers, Douglass acknowledges that the emphasis of his speech is not to give praise, but to call on America to act on it’s own failures and begin to faithfully fulfill the nations oath.8 He asks his audience, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [African Americans]?”9 This rhetorical question Douglass presents, challenges America to reevaluate what they are truly celebrating on the Fourth of July, for it is surely not the freedom in which they claim to have achieved. Douglass asserts that asking black people to rejoice in the “shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery”10 and do not respect the courage, and steps the Founding Fathers took to create a free, liberated nation.11

     In “The Fourth of July,” the need of belonging to a society is displayed. Lorde stated, “This wasn’t right or fair! Hadn’t I written poems about Bataan and freedom and democracy for all? (Lorde 204) Lorde’s family was told that couldn’t eat in an ice cream shop because of their color in the one place that has stood for freedom and equality for the last two hundred and twenty-five years, our nations capitol. Lorde’s family was basically treated like they were foreigners because of their color.

African Americans have come a very long way from 1865; they have fought many battles to earn their place in America’s Society. From the ending of slavery African Americans have had various achievements from their suffering. Some fought, some spoke, some marched, some sat, some cried, some died, some even dreamed, but all of these things left a footprint in history. In this paper I will discuss some very important events in African American history beginning with the ending of slavery which has brought us to the America we all enjoy today.

On July 4, 1776, Americans cheered with joy and celebrated independence. The spilt from England proved Americans had what it takes to govern their own country. The American people were finally free, or at least the majority were free. The slaves of the new nation saw no change, and no freedom. They still lived their lives as property in human bondage. The location and the family the

The speech “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” was spoken, by Frederick Douglas, to the supporters and abolitionists at the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Fourth of July. In his speech Frederick Douglas speaks heavily on the subject of abolitioning slavery. Frederick Douglas provides comparisons and analogies, appeals to the audience 's logic, and appeals to the audience’s emotion in order to convince the audience to more vigorously fight for the abolition of slavery.

In her essay “The Fourth of July”, Audre Lorde described the enlighteningly awful experience of the reality of racism she had during her first trip to Washington D.C. as a child. While Lorde’s older sister had been rejected by her high school from traveling with the rest of the graduating class because she was black, Lorde’s parents decided to take a family trip to the nation’s capital on their own to compensate for such an injustice. Nevertheless, the reality of racism and discrimination the family felt while on their trip foiled their attempt to ignore and overcome such oppression, and led Lorde to view the trip as a frustrating experience. By employing this personal anecdote of her family’s replacement graduation trip for her older sister, Lorde successfully conveyed the impossibility of pretending to live in ignorance of racism and discrimination, and powerfully presented her anger at her family, the black community, and all of American society at trying to do so instead of addressing these problems.

Margaret Fuller Ossoli was an American transcendentalist who believed in reform. Fuller created her writings following the Civil War. She was writing during the time of Ralph Waldo Emerson. This essay, “Fourth of July”, is a snippet from her original writing, “Life Without and Life Within”. Fuller is directing this piece for future generations in the hope of encouraging the transcendentalist movement. She is using her influence as a woman, to encourage women to be involved and active in society. Through this writing she uses several tools and styles to persuade her audience to create a society of reform. Her powerful use of language draws in the reader's while calling for political change, abolition of slavery, and to encourage the