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Meaning Of July Fourth For The Negro, By Frederick Douglass

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In the speech: "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," by Frederick Douglass, he establishes his statement that the Fourth of July has no meaning to the black race. Spoken in 1st person point of view, Douglass supports the theme that change should occur for him and his colleauges. He establishes the conflict of the blacks not having the natural freedom they should have by using the styles of imagery and word choice. His purpose is to prove to the whites that the blacks themselves are people too and should have the same equality as them in order to be free. He expresses a mood of enthusiasm in order to gain rights for the blacks. Throughout the speech, Douglass explains various images like what they would be punished like and how slavery was like for him and his colleauges back when it was still a thing. Douglass would state that the blacks would get treated without respect or care. : " There are seventy - two crimes in the state of Virginia which, if committed by a black man ( no matter how ignorant he be ), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the same punishment." ( Douglass 8 ) This shows that the blacks were treated very unfair as compared to the whites who had more advantages. The audience on the other hand would not be …show more content…

Douglass states that, " there is not a nation on the Earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour ," which can show that slavery in the United States was a major issue. It was not easy for Douglass and the rest of the blacks to do it, but after a while, they almost brought slavery to an end. Douglass' speech helped changed the mindset of the whites partially, but not fully. Slavery was much difficult to abolish, so it ended up continuing for more years to

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