Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” Speech
This is one of the most popular speeches delivered by Frederick Douglass during his time. He was a civil rights advocate and an abolitionist to the African Americans during times of slavery. His famous speech that took place in the Rochester’s Corinthian Hall attracted vast numbers of people and left many speechless (Barnes). The speech was later reported as eloquent, heart touching and admirable as it drew massive applause at the end. For this reason, the speech was published and made accessible to every interested American. Several people got a copy of speech and until today, Americans still talk about the marvelous Frederick Douglass’s speech. The subject of his speech was, 'what to the slave is the fourth of July?'(Foner). He passionately argued that to both the freed African Americans and the slaves, 4 July was nothing more than a great mockery of the filthiest kind. Douglass utilizes a lot of rhetorics and sarcasm to convey his powerful message and emotions to the audience (Foner). The result of the speech was an effectively argued message.
In the introductory section of the speech, he establishes a tone of modesty, trying to express his gratitude for being invited and deemed worthy of addressing an audience during American independence celebration. He presents himself as a slave just like the audience. However, he deems the audience to be the real beneficiaries of the declared independence on the fourth of July. He asks a series of rhetorical questions at the beginning of the speech, which leaves his audience curious, thus willing to continue listening. He refers to the declaration of independence as “that” and not “the”. This shows and stresses the gap he saw still existing between his people and the non- oppressed (Barnes). His continuous rhetorics suggests to the audience Douglass’s feelings of the false perspective of the declaration of independence. He clearly states that he did not choose to address the audience, which is his people, on the same day they are reminded of the great pain, and injustice posed on them. He did not see the reason for expressing gratitude and joy for American independence after all the pain and bondage the African Americans experienced (Foner 2).
Douglass’s speech included every African American who had gone through slavery and those who were still going through the harsh treatments. He portrays the day as having a double meaning, a day for mourning for his people and others a day for blind joy. This is because, the day was a representation of all the injustice treatment African Americans went through as slaves to the whites; while for the whites, however, joyous they may have been, they never wanted equality to prevail. At some point in his speech, he speaks harshly to the audience, a symbol of how passionate he felt about the speech. He addresses the white abolitionists present in the hall on how their efforts to eliminate slavery have failed so far. He states “but I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind.” He rubbed onto their faces the failure of their proclaimed aspirations to help stop slavery since some people still worked as slaves. He also examines certain issues present in the abolitionists’ slavery denunciation, among them their entitlement to liberty, justification of the bible and humanity of the enslaved African Americans (Gates and Nellie 3). Douglass’s passages show significant irony since he was called to address an issue that is not a reality to most people in America. Independence Day was only true for a group of the Americans while others, particularly the African Americans were not at all liberated from slavery. He felt quite passionate about his own people and through his speech, every intended feeling he had was brought out clearly. He passionately states that“Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, 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, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America.”
He also uses the bible to make reference and relate the situation of his people. He believed forgetting the pains of his people were not right, there was no reason for rejoicing while others are in pain. The holiday was to make people rejoice and celebrate liberty and freedom. However, the African Americans had neither freedom nor liberty. The holiday divided America into two separate regions, those that rejoice for the sake of independence and those that mourn, because of slavery (Barnes). He described the holiday of the declaration of independence to be a mockery of him and his people. The mockery is, however, made over and over again through the years making its validity quite hard to argue. Douglass tells Americans that they have committed serious wrongs, which with time have piled up to a point of not being erasable. Only the non- prejudice and just men could see Douglass’s truth in the speech. His speech incorporates the bible, God and the American constitution giving the audience real evidence. The credited proof, he provides makes the audience quite convinced of his feelings about the fourth of July, the declaration of Independence Day (Gates and Nellie 4). The audience cannot question Douglass since as the speech proceeds, and as he continues to prove his point, they get convinced. After making his point of the unrealistic Independence Day, he further tells the audience of the injustices about African Americans and the reason they were wrong and inhumane. African Americans also had the right to live like normal humans, hence are entitled to liberty and should not be made brutes. He tries to relate what people believe and read with the reality of how people live. It was obvious to Americans that every man should be entitled to freedom and arguing against this fact is more like disapproving a biblical or scientific fact. Arguing against or disapproving this fact is pointless, since the evidence is proof enough. A man is, therefore, entitled to freedom thus the African Americans required their liberty just like other people. He also continued to acknowledge the audience that it was not light that they needed but fire. The simple fact of freedom for all men was not what America needed. They needed an awakening of the fire that is the unjust crimes and treatments against humanity, and effort to change the situation because it can never be undone afterwards.
Douglass ends his speech by arguing that July 4 is one of the days that represented cruelty and gross injustice to the African Americans, him being a victim of the injustice. He further explained “What to the American slave is your Fourth of July I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” Therefore, the celebration of the day as a holiday for liberation and equalization was rather hypocritical since slavery continued existing in the state. The liberty hypocrisy portrayed by the Americans concerning independence declaration was unrealistic, and it represented a much deeper injustice than the treatment the European monarchies subjected their slaves. “There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour” he explained to the audience.He considered cruelties from other countries more intense than the pretense of being liberal and independent in America. On that day, July 4, the blind rejoice and the oppressed with slavery are driven into absolute sorrow (Foner 4). Douglass’s speech was a call for change to the American people since the past cannot always be undone. The horror and terror of the present was not to go on in case of real liberty, and since this was not the case in America, change was the only way to stop hypocrisy. Real liberty and equality was to prevail in the entire America, for both whites and blacks.
Works Cited
Barnes, Diane. Milestone Documents in African American History.Analysis: Frederick Douglass's"Fourth of July" Speech, TheSchlager Group, 2010. Web. 4 February 2012.
Available at:
Foner, Philip S. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Volume ІІ: "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"International Publishers Co., Inc., New York, 1950. Web. 4
February 2012.
Available at:
Gates, Henry L. and Nellie McKay.The Norton Anthology of African American
Literature.W. W. Norton & Company; 2nd edition, 2003.
