Question

What does Douglas mean when he says "it is not light that is needed, but fire"?

Answer 1

Answer: It’s not that Douglass chose fire over light as a way to vent his righteous anger. He believed, rightly I think, that convincing the comfortable was a battle without end. Beginning with the perspectives and concerns of the privileged meant never extending beyond the limits of extraordinarily limited imaginations. It would require constantly negotiating between delicate white sensibilities and bloodied black bodies. It was an immoral negotiation and one in which he was no longer willing to be implicated.

Explanation: The speech happened before the civil war occurred, and his speech foreshadowed the bloody massacre that was to come.

Answer 2

Douglas is referring to the need for passion and enthusiasm in order to achieve something. He is suggesting that it is not enough to simply have knowledge or understanding, but that one must be driven and motivated to take action.