



Frederick Douglass was one of the few African Americans in his time that was able to project his ideas freely with the ability to know that people would listen and take his thoughts into account. During his speech titled, “What to a slave is the fourth of July”, Douglass talks about how the rights that are deemed to be given to all men are not that at all and that African Americans in this time period do not have nearly the same rights as others and therefore do not have the same desire and ability to celebrate national holidays. Douglass also went in depth talking about how the situation that African Americans are dealing with is similar to that in which all Americans were dealing with slightly over 75 years ago, in which they were trapped under the unjust rule of the British. Douglass notes how at this point in time it is easy to look back and realize how easy it is to see how one side is clearly right and the other is clearly wrong, and believes that a similar situation will happen when African Americans are able to get their fundamental rights. Douglass talks about how the founding fathers of this nation made it their ultimate goal to escape from the British tyranny, and hopes that a similar notion can be done by the African American Community. He realizes that it is not a journey that will be quick or will be easy, and relates it to how hard the Americans fought, and how long they had to stick to their beliefs in order to accomplish their final goals. While talking about this subject, Douglass reiterates how he is not trying to slander the work done by these men because of what has come of it, rather use these men as examples of a blueprint on how change can be made in society. Douglass talks about all the qualities needed to make change in their time, but knows that it is not the same as what is needed in this time. Douglass’ main point of the speech however, is how African Americans deal with their limited rights and how they see the idea of patriotism and nationalism in the United States. Douglass talks about how the African American community, as they do not feel the same rights, does not feel the same sense of National pride in comparison to others that have a full set of rights. Douglass continues this notion to where he states that African Americans Cannot celebrate national holidays the same as citizens with full rights as they are not fully assimilated into the country and do not feel the same patriotism due to their lack of freedom.  By looking at “Southerners Against Secession and “Historical Perspectives on African American Education, Civil Rights and Black Power”, we can get a deeper understanding of what Frederick Douglass referred to in his speech about being under an oppression similar to that of the British and how gaining fundamental rights will help patriotism” This is important as it allows us to get a better understanding of what he was talking about and relate it to other situations going on in that time period. 

The first Article titled, “Southerners Against Secession: The Arguments on the Constitutional Unionists” gave a very good glimpse into how an outsider in this scenario viewed the limited rights that African Americans were receiving in the middle of the 19th century.  One of the main historical references that is in this article that can be related back to Frederick Douglass’ speech is that during the time period in which The US gained more land in the west, slave owners wanted to be able to make these new states slave states. This can be related to Douglass’ speech in that he believes that change needs to be made sooner rather than later if change is to be done and the country does not follow down the same path they are in right now. This passage shows how close this situation came to being to the point in which it was going to be even tougher to get African American their rights, as making the western states slave states, which then would be followed by a possible different outcome in the civil war. The reading of this article broadened my view of the speech that Frederick Douglas gave as it allowed me to further understand the situation that has happened the years slightly before it. Knowing this information allowed me to connect it to see how his speech affected the people in his time era as opposed to how different it may or may not have been in previous years. Along with this, Douglass reiterated many times how he wanted to unify everyone, and not further separate the two groups of people during this time period. The article gave a good view on how serious the threat of secession was which I was not aware of how serious it was. Overall this article was able to help me further understand some of the points that Douglass made in his speech towards African Americans not being able to fully appreciate their rights. 

The second Article that I found titled, “Historical Perspective towards African American education, Civil rights, and Black Power”, The author discusses how the landscape of civil rights and everything that comes along with that movement changed over history. One of the major ideas it touches upon is the education of African Americans. Frederick Douglass was one of the few African Americans with a proper education, possibly a leading reason as to why he was able to have such a large voice in the community as people listened to him. The article discusses how little education there was available for African Americans prior to the Civil War and this was a main topic of desire for African Americans. As the article says, “African Americans sought formal schooling because they recognized it was inextricably tied to their freedom.” The way that this connects back to the speech by Douglass is that he does not condone causing riots and tyranny to attempt to get their rights, rather attempt to become full citizens in a more peaceful and effective manner.  This is very interesting to see how Douglass was able to use this speech to get his message across and try to prove his point in a manner which is very different than what was going on in the country around him. The second article gave me a more in depth look at the history of slavery and the rights African American had leading up to his speech which gave me a better understanding of some of the points Douglass was trying to get across. 

The articles, “Southerners Against Secession” and “Historical Perspectives on African American education, Civil Rights and Black power” were able to better enhance my understanding of the Frederick Douglass Speech titled “What to a slave is the fourth of July”. This speech was given to demonstrate how a lack of fundamental rights doesn’t allow slaves to feel the same type of patriotism and pride in their country, resulting in a different attitude towards national holidays. Through the use of a better historical background, and a lesson in what was going on in the country outside of his speech in this time period, the two articles gave me a better and more in depth understanding of what Douglass was trying to accomplish when he spoke in front of an Anti-Slavery Society in 1852.



