




History and culture play a fundamental role in shaping literature, certain texts or speeches are formatted for a proper audience. Great authors such as Shakespeare wrote literature in the language and style that was used during his lifetime. Therefore, it is hard for students in this day and age to understand Shakespeare’s text because the language is a lot different from what we have been taught. Aside from language, the time period for authors is very important as well. Authors such as Frederick Douglas had a different outlook on life due to the circumstances he had to deal with during his time. For example, Douglas’s speech “What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?” was written through the mind of someone who was a run-a-way slave and did not feel independent. After years of slavery and abuse to the African American society, Douglas felt that he had to stand up and show the world African Americans have a voice. Through the history and cultural setting during the 1800’s, Frederick Douglass wanted Americans to realize that there is not equality, slavery must be abolished, and the Fourth of July cannot be celebrated while a country still allows abuse to minorities. 

Frederick Douglas grew up during the 1800’s in America and was forced to deal with slavery and abuse to the African American society. Douglas was a social reformer, abolitionist, and a writer. He used these skills to bring African Americans together and fight to stop slavery. Someone like Douglas who came from being a slave will not see the world the same as someone who grew up in the 21st century. Children who grow up today are able to have friends of any color and adults of color can have any job they want. However, when Douglas grew up this was not the case by any means. He wasn’t being treated as a person and everyone else around him who wasn’t white was also being abused and used for hard labor. Douglas’s speech “What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?” is explaining how a slave or former slave doesn’t agree with the celebration. The Fourth of July is supposed to be celebrating America’s national independence, while people in the 1800’s still owned slaves and treated African Americans as property. 

Frederick Douglas was a former slave who was an outraged African American that wanted to abolish slavery in America. Douglas gave a speech titled, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Throughout his speech he did not just talk about slavery, he talked about the flaws that America had as a whole. The text in his speech was influenced by the abuse he was forced to take as a slave, and the pain he feels for his fellow slaves all over America. The Fourth of July is supposed to be a day of independence and freedom. Although for black people at the time of Douglas’s speech, they were not free and they could not participate in the celebrations around the U.S. As a slave in the 1800’s you had no rights and you were not even looked upon as a real person. The pain and anger Douglas went through as a slave is the reason his speech was so moving. The text in his speech was filled with passion and determination to abolish slavery and create a true independent, free nation. Douglas wrote, “We have to do with the past only as we can make is useful to the present and to the future. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome.” (Douglas 6). Douglas’s speech is not filled with hate and criticisms towards white people, he simply wants justice for black people in America. He wants the past to be remembered and use it for the future to create a healthier and stronger America. The past cannot be changed but the future is yet to be determined. The text in Douglas’s speech is shaped by the long history of slavery and abuse that African Americans were forced to deal with. 

One of the most controversial problems in United States history was the decision whether or not to abolish slavery. Unfortunately, this went on for far too many years and generations of African American families suffered. The New York Times published a review of Manisha Sinha’s “The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition” by Ira Berlin. Berlin reviews Sinha’s text and gives insight on Sinha’s background. However, in Berlin’s article he goes through the challenges that African Americans faced while trying to abolish slavery and become free. Berlin’s text is shaped by the history of slavery while reviewing the words of Manisha Sinha. Therefore, she is creating an article that is shaped towards the abolishment of slavery and giving her own insight on why she agrees with Sinha. Berlin states in her article, “The source of their concern, as Sinha underlines, derived from the pervasive racial discrimination all black people experienced. They were barred from churches, schools, workshops and cemeteries, indeed, any institution white people claimed as their own.” (Berlin 2). This is an example of how she is combining the history of slavery with the words in Sinha. Berlin is agreeing with Sinha that black people experienced hate and discrimination from white people. White people banned black people from anything that they claimed as their own and Berlin is reiterating this fact. Berlins text is influenced by the wrong doings of white people in the 1800’s and she is using Sinha’s text to support her claims.

History has proven that our society is not perfect and certain ideas and creations are damaging to America. Slavery is one of the most devastating problems in American history, and it took us hundreds of years to abolish. The History Channel released an article titled, “Slavery in America,” the article goes through the history of slavery. However, the historian who wrote this article did not go through life as a slave and did not have to fight for freedom. Frederick Douglas’s speech came from the heart, while this article is mainly facts and reason as to why slavery took place in America. For example, the History.com Staff wrote, “The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 solidified the central importance of slavery to the South’s economy. By the mid-19th century, America’s westward expansion, along with a growing abolition movement in the North, would provoke a great debate over slavery that would tear the nation apart in the bloody American Civil War (1861-65).” (Staff Writer 1). This is written to explain the reasons as to why slavery was so dominant in the south, and how it helped form the economic foundations of America. The text used in this article and the text used in Frederick Douglas’s speech, are about the same topic, but the two different cultures change the effect of the text. Douglas went through slavery and decided to try and give black people a voice in order to abolish slavery. In the Historical article written in today’s culture, they are giving facts and reasons behind slavery. The two topics may be the same but the reasons for writing the article and the speech are completely different.

Overall, the historical or cultural contexts shape the authors text, due to the circumstances they are dealt with or the time period they grew up in. Every author has a target audience that they are trying to reach out to, and their main points are driven towards that audience. For some authors like Frederick Douglas, his target audience is America, and he wants to gain enough support to abolish slavery. However, two authors could write about the same topic but have different target audiences. One author could write about actual events that happened in his or her life, and another author could talk about the facts and history that pertain to that given topic. Frederick Douglas was able to give real life examples of being a slave and how Independence day in the 1800’s was mainly for white people. Whereas the History Channel gave insight as to how slavery came about, and provided reasons why African Americans were forced to deal with slavery. Therefore, historical or cultural contexts have a major impact on the way an author will shape their text. 






