Question

Read "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" given by Frederick Douglass. The following passage is an excerpt from the address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" given by Frederick Douglass to the Rochester (New York) Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society on July 5, 1852. Read the passage. Then, answer the questions that follow.

Bear in mind that Douglass was speaking at a celebration of July 4th, Independence Day, and consider what that day means to Americans.

""
Frederick Douglass

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July...

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.


1.What about Douglass' speech strikes you as unique or memorable?


OR


2.What tone does Douglass use to get his point across?


Include one specific example from the speech.


Answer with one complete paragraph (5 sentences) . Be sure to use one specific example and explain it to support your point. Don't forget to use the speech above.

Answer 1

1.What about Douglass' speech strikes you as unique or memorable?

Douglas' s speech to me dictated the sorrow many slaves felt on the fourth of July even as the White people celebrated. In the following passage, the most notable mention of this idea to me is evident. "Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them." In the excerpt, Douglas calls the chains of the slaves more intolerable than the jubilant shouts. Douglas means that the fourth of July was a day of freedom, yet slaves in America were still present and were saddened by the day as it symbolised the lie that was independence day.

Answer 2

2. What tone does Douglass use to get his point across?

One of the most memorable aspects of this speech is the tone that Douglass uses to get his point across. In this speech, Douglass does not use a calm and reconciliatory tone. Instead, he uses a very intense, enraged tone. He tells us how important it is to awaken the senses of the nation and to make people aware of the importance of what he is talking about. Moreover, there is an element of accusation, as Douglass reproaches the audience for forgetting about slavery and its consequences. He uses this tone when he tells us that "to forget them [slaves], to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking." He explains how important this intense tone is by saying that the nation needs "the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."