First of all, I'd like to wish you and your families a very happy and safe Fourth of July! I hope that all of you are enjoying this amazing streak of sunshine.
Frederick Douglass is one of those historical figures from the 19th century (the 1800s) that keeps popping up for me here and there, and after listening to an excerpt from this speech, I have been inspired to purchase and read his autobiography which has been on my reading list for a long time.
Hearing his descendants from your generation read this speech was profoundly moving for me. As you are certainly aware, we are in the midst of a national reckoning on understanding ourselves, our country, and our history, and this speech offers some jarring perspective. He gave the speech in 1852 to a group of abolitionists at a time when one in eight residents in America was in bondage. Even though the mostly white audience of abolitionists would presumably have been supportive, Douglass does not hold back on how the 4th of July felt for him by posing the rhetorical question: "What to the American slave is your 4th of July?"
Please listen to the speech as read by his descendants and send me an email of 200 to 300 words that talks about three ways in which Frederick Douglass seeks to persuade his audience that "Fourth of July is yours, not mine." Click here to hear and see a transcript of the speech, and click here to view the video. I recommend watching the video first, and then circle back and read the transcript as you pull out the persuasive elements. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
See below an excerpt from Wikipedia that gives a little background information on this great American abolitionist, writer, and orator:
"Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey; c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895)was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.
Douglass wrote several autobiographies, notably describing his experiences as a slave in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), which became a bestseller, and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Following the Civil War, Douglass remained an active campaigner against slavery and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, the book covers events both during and after the Civil War. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African-American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket.
Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, be they white, black, female, Native American, or Chinese immigrants. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution. When radical abolitionists, under the motto 'No Union with Slaveholders,' criticized Douglass' willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: 'I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.'"
Frederick Douglass is one of those historical figures from the 19th century (the 1800s) that keeps popping up for me here and there, and after listening to an excerpt from this speech, I have been inspired to purchase and read his autobiography which has been on my reading list for a long time.
Hearing his descendants from your generation read this speech was profoundly moving for me. As you are certainly aware, we are in the midst of a national reckoning on understanding ourselves, our country, and our history, and this speech offers some jarring perspective. He gave the speech in 1852 to a group of abolitionists at a time when one in eight residents in America was in bondage. Even though the mostly white audience of abolitionists would presumably have been supportive, Douglass does not hold back on how the 4th of July felt for him by posing the rhetorical question: "What to the American slave is your 4th of July?"
Please listen to the speech as read by his descendants and send me an email of 200 to 300 words that talks about three ways in which Frederick Douglass seeks to persuade his audience that "Fourth of July is yours, not mine." Click here to hear and see a transcript of the speech, and click here to view the video. I recommend watching the video first, and then circle back and read the transcript as you pull out the persuasive elements. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
See below an excerpt from Wikipedia that gives a little background information on this great American abolitionist, writer, and orator:
"Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey; c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895)was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.
Douglass wrote several autobiographies, notably describing his experiences as a slave in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), which became a bestseller, and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Following the Civil War, Douglass remained an active campaigner against slavery and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, the book covers events both during and after the Civil War. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African-American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket.
Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, be they white, black, female, Native American, or Chinese immigrants. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution. When radical abolitionists, under the motto 'No Union with Slaveholders,' criticized Douglass' willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: 'I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.'"