Final answer:
In his speech, Frederick Douglass refers to slavery as a degrading and oppressive system that deprived enslaved individuals of their freedom and hindered their self-reliance. He emphasizes how it affected both African Americans and white people on the plantation.
Step-by-step explanation:
In his speech titled 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?', Frederick Douglass refers to slavery as a system that degrades and oppresses enslaved individuals. He describes it as a badge of inferiority and highlights how it hinders the self-reliance and self-help of both the enslaved African Americans and the white people on the slave plantation. Douglass explains that slavery not only deprived the slaves of their freedom but also prevented them from fully developing their skills and achieving a higher quality of life.