United States citizens celebrate Independence Day/The Fourth of July with cheerful barbeques, music and fireworks; but African Americans seem to also delight themselves in getting together for the Fourth of July as well. They celebrate by having cookouts, laughing, socializing, lighting fireworks, and generally enjoying themselves together. But, what significance does the Fourth of July really mean for those who were slaves? This question is worth exploring. Frederick Douglas seemed to share the sentiments that the holiday meant nothing to us as a race of people during his time.
Douglas’s speech regarding the Fourth of July expressed heartache, pain, embarrassment, and humiliation. To those sitting before him, he let it be known that he was a former slave, and that they were the only ones who truly benefited from Independence Day. Why did they call upon Frederick Douglas to speak that day? This is the question he was asking, nonetheless, he expressed how he felt regarding this holiday. He conveyed that independence day did not show true equality among all people. He further stated that all men were not created equal and that The Constitution did not apply to his race of people.
Throughout his speech, he articulated that, in his opinion the celebration was hypocritical and insulting to slaves. What to the slave is Fourth of July? Douglas elucidates his point by pointing out the evil doings of America towards his people. He states that, The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not me. Are we blind and ignorant, or do we just not care? I respect Frederick Douglas because he stood up for the ancestors of African Americans when no one else did.
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With unmitigated gall and intestinal fortitude, he unashamedly told whites how he and my ancestors felt. Moreover, he told them that they had mocked him by inviting him to speak about their Independence Day. Speaking with simple eloquence, Douglas asked whites how they could expect him to feel joy, when his people had only experienced pain and suffering. He knew that the commemorating of Independence Day was to celebrate freedom and liberty, but for his people, this couldn’t be because they were not free.
His people were still struggling, picking cotton, eating scraps, being whipped, and being treated as animals. There was no independence day for them, thus there was no reason for them to celebrate. He believed that the holiday was a joke for his people and mockery of his race. As I journey through Douglas’s speech given that day, I realize that many black people celebrate the Fourth of July without knowing the true meaning behind it. Some may know that it’s ‘Independence Day’, others know nothing. They just know that it is time to light fireworks, have barbeques and have a good time.
I feel as though we as a race have been celebrating a holiday that was not meant for us in the first place. The Fourth of July was a day for whites. Blacks were only included so that the mistreatment to them could be ignored. Why do we celebrate this day? Why do we acknowledge it as if it applies us? I’m guessing because it’s a holiday and holidays are to celebrate, simple as that. Frederick Douglas proved his point. His speech was coherent, thought-provoking and profoundly insightful. One of his statements was that, America is unlike any other in their shameless hypocrisy.
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I say this because here they have celebrated their freedom and independence since 1776, while there are men shackled to chains, forced to do their labor, fighting for their humanity in this land. It’s ironic because they called upon him to rejoice in a holiday that did not include him or his people, and he let them know it. Some may feel that his response was in appropriate and somewhat dangerous, but in actuality his response was more real than real could get. Asking a former slave who had to buy his way out of freedom to speak at such in engagement is mockery in itself. To the slave, the Fourth of July is a mockery.
In closing let me say that Frederick Douglas’s speech took a unique approach in that he came from a perspective different from those to whom he spoke. Although the speech may have not have meant much to the beneficiaries of Independence Day in the room that day, it left an unforgettable impression. A former slave and having been a part of the abolitionist movement, Douglas felt the pain that his people were enduring and was clear in expressing it. Again, “What to the slave is Fourth of July? ” After the information presented in this paper, is the question worth considering?
