Frederick Douglass - from "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

Frederick Douglass was a very powerful speaker before, during, and after the Civil War, and many people used what he said in many different ways. He showed the North that the slaves were being ruthlessly beaten and killed (Wilhelm). He also showed the North that the South had been lying when they said that they were kind to their slaves (Wilhelm). He showed Americans that the Fourth of July had a completely different meaning for the African Americans as slaves than it did to the freed Americans (Wilhelm). He described the hypocrisy that the slaves felt on that day (Wilhelm). He showed that while Americans were celebrating freedom and justice for all, the slaves were still forced to do things against their will (Wilhelm). They were not free, and there was no justice for them. Even after the Civil War, the white people still did not give blacks all of the rights that they deserved to have as human beings living in America. There was still a ton of racism and injustice against the black people, and many people just overlooked it. Douglass was not afraid to speak up against the injustice, and he continually showed people how hypocritical they were and still are today (Wilhelm). Douglass's speech from "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" was definitely a speech that belonged in the Realism time period. It shows the perspective of people that were not in the highest, richest class. From "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" is very about the here and now, and how the Negros felt at that moment in time (Wilhelm). It was not about the past or what had happened on July Fourth when America won its independence, it was about how the Negros were outraged by the injustice that they were receiving and the hypocrisy of the rest of America. This work definitely reflects society of the time period, because the speech was given a few years before the Civil War. It shows that the Northerners had no idea what was going on, and it shows how unhappy the African Americans were (Wilhelm). It shows that tension was growing immensely, and that it would only be a short amount of time before all of the tension finally burst out and caused something enormous to happen (Wilhelm). This work does not talk about religion or nature, but it can be tied in to government and human nature. Douglass could have been talking to the government, as government officials may have been there listening to his speech. He could have been trying to stress how much of a change really needed to take place. He was trying to show how awful it really was for the slaves that had to do so much physical work out in the fields all day long. It can also be tied to human nature, with all of the hypocrisy that had been happening. Americans had been so cruel to all of the African Americans, but they seemed to overlook it all of the time. They turned away, so they could pretend that had not seen it and would not do anything about it. They celebrated freedom for all, while they had slaves working out in their fields and serving them their drinks every single day. They were very hypocritical, on that day most of all, and Douglass really wanted to bring it to their attention. There was not a hero in this piece, but Douglass also talks about the American Dream of African Americans: being freed (Wilhelm). That is central to his speech, and his speech would have had no effect if African Americans had not wanted freedom so badly. Douglass was an amazing orator, and his impact is still seen today.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. Glencoe Literature. New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.