Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? and Stokely Carmichael’s Black Power speeches not only display their frustrations about their current racial status in society for their respective time periods but both speeches can now be seen as being a significant part of the catalyst that created social change during the era in which they were first spoken. They have become words that have inspired many people to take action against what they deem is wrong. In a few ways, these works can both be grouped under a great civil rights literature umbrella. However, these speeches differ vastly in more ways than just when they were given, but in how they were given, who they were addressed to, how the audience reacted, and how different of a person each of the speech givers are to each other. Interestingly, the reason as to why these speeches are so different is from the most basic of differences: when they were given and the circumstances surrounding it. 

Frederick Douglass was a famous Nineteenth Century abolitionist who escaped slavery in Maryland and went on to become a leader of the abolitionist movement and gained fame for his antislavery writing and for his oratory skills. He was thought to have been the antithesis of the idea that slaves could not become a functional citizen, since he was so well known. He went on to write numerous biographies and give many speeches. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? was given on July 5, 1852 to the Rochester Ladies’ Antislavery Society in Rochester New York. The speech comments on how a slave or former slave cannot truly celebrate the Fourth of July because their people still do not have their own independence while in their own country. 

Stokely Carmichael was born in Trinidad and Tobago and later moved to the United States when he was eleven years old. He was active in the civil rights and black power movements and was a leader of numerous organizations and even the Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party. Black Power was given at UC Berkley to a mostly white crowd on October 29, 1966. It urges African Americans to fight for their liberation and get rid of the current institutions and adopt Black Power politics. 

Some ways that these speeches are similar are that they are given to try and spur change and to voice their grievances. They are both given to an audience mostly made up of white people, with Carmichael to college students and Douglass to Rochester abolitionists. In the basic sense, their goals as activists are to create a better life for African Americans. For Douglass, his people of his time are going through one of the greatest atrocities in human history and his goal is for starters, to have all of the slave emancipated. For Carmichael, his people of his time are experiencing constant segregation and discrimination. While the Civil Rights act of 1964 has ben passed, de facto segregation and discrimination are still taking place. And he wants to change the mindset of white people and of the institutions. Both of them try little digs at their white audiences by blatantly letting them know that they are equals. Douglass calls himself and the audience fellow-citizens. Carmichael lets everyone know that he is sophisticated like white folk and reads poetry. It’s unfortunate that over one-hundred years after Douglass gave his speech, Carmichael still has to prove himself that even as a black man he can be as intelligent as them.

A few of the ways that Douglass’ and Carmichael’s speeches differ is in how they delivered them. Douglass uses more of a somber tone and talks very professionally and tries not to upset anyone. While Carmichael uses very powerful rhetoric and uses a lot of energy in his deliverance and uses some common words of the era. They also differ in that Douglass wants the white man to free the black man and allow them to be in society as an actual person. But Carmichael wants to tear down the current societies and institutions because he believes that they have failed and will never change no matter how many people stop being racist. Also, Douglass talks directly to and expects action from the people who he is addressing: a women’s abolitionist organization. Carmichael is talking to an audience of mostly white college students but is really talking to African Americans and is urging them to instate a “black power” movement, and he is also talking to the heads of institutions in which he has believed have failed him. The topic of Douglass’ speech is that he is aware of the great virtues that white Americans celebrate during the Fourth of July such as, liberty, citizenship, and freedom and is sad that his people cannot receive those rights as well and wants his audience to help him to change that. While Carmichael brings up all of the faults in white Americans and talks constantly about their rampant racism, how they built establishments that aren’t meant for blacks, or how the system is rigged, and instead of wanting to be allowed, he wants to destroy it all and build from the ground up.

The reason as to why these drastic differences exist between these two activists for civil rights is because of the time in which they were written. When Frederick Douglass gave his speech in 1852, it was still the height of the slavery era in America. He could not afford to focus on African American rights because they were not even citizens yet. Instead he focuses on trying to persuade everyone to help free the slaves from chains. He addresses the audience as fellow-citizens throughout the speech which is stressing the fact that he, a black former slave, has equal citizenship as them. This shows how much of a rarity this is and wants to remind them that this can happen and wants it to become more widespread. 

When Stokely Carmichael gave his speech in 1966, he already had everything that Frederick Douglass was fighting for back in the mid-1800s. Instead he faced racism on not if he was a person or not but if he was an equal. The Civil Rights act had already passed when Carmichael spoke, but many people still found ways to get around the new laws and figured out how to still discriminate against minorities, such as with housing and voting. Carmichael had seen what had happened with peaceful demonstrations. People who sat in got arrested and people who protested got tear gassed, and even the “leader” of the civil rights movement in Martin Luther King Jr. was not safe from getting shot. So, he figured that a more drastic and violent protest was needed and thus he wanted to start the black power movement. 

Both of these speeches have become highlights in history during their respective time periods in helping rally change for the lives of African Americans. The most photographed man of the Nineteenth Century, Frederick Douglass delivers a speech about how unfortunate it is that he cannot celebrate the Fourth of July because his people are still locked in slavery’s grasp. And Stokely Carmichael speaks about how a black power movement must rise and tear down the institutions that are only meant to help the white man and rebuild it all and make everyone equals. For the most part, both of them wanted the same thing: a better life for African Americans, but their speeches could not have been any more different. The reason for this is because of how different of a time period both of them spoke in. One was fighting for the right for a black man to be a U.S. citizen, and the other (already having gained that) is wanting a fighting and fair chance in society and has seen where others have failed.  
