In the speech by Frederick Douglass, titled, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass outlines the hypocrisies surrounding freedom in America. The speech was given to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York on July 5th, 1852. In this speech, he brings up evidence of how the United States is a hypocritic nation, and the celebration of freedom on the 4th of July is not meaningful until every citizen is free. This same American hypocrisy is still prevalent today in many aspects of society. Although Frederick Douglass was legally a citizen of the United States of America, he referred to the nation as “your nation” to his fellow citizens. This disconnection to the country is brought on by hypocrisy and is still an issue today.

A similar unwelcomed feeling that is prevalent in today’s society is the issue of legalizing same sex marriage. Like Douglass, homosexual people who live in certain more conservative communities are oppressed by the citizens and don’t get to enjoy the same freedoms as comfortably as everyone else because not everyone is so understanding. Immense separation is created between the marriage rights of heterosexual, and homosexual people in society. An article written by the Georgetown University Law Center called, The Future Impact of Same-Sex Marriage: More Questions Than Answers highlights the legal oppression of Homosexuals in America. America is progressing quickly to be more including, but “The United States is likely to continue for a substantial period of time as a nation with two legal definitions of marriage.”

(Hunter 1857). Even Though it is not their freedom as a whole at stake, homosexual people still feel excluded from America much like Frederick Douglass mentions in his speech.

Harvard Staff Writer, Liz Mineo wrote an article in the Harvard Gazette juxtaposing the recent racial tensions to those during the civil rights movement. Recent events such as the riots in Ferguson Missouri are not nearly as bad as those in the height of the civil rights movements, but the fact they are still going on shows that society hasn’t changed enough to the point where everyone is accepted. The hypocrisy of slavery is still around today, even though African Americans now have all the same rights, they do not get treated with the same freedoms as whites. Victor S. Thomas, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, said “In the history of African-Americans, the story of struggle has been a constant one.” This racial issue is connected to the social oppression of same sex couples because both minority groups do not have the same respect as majority groups. With the recent cases of violence against african americans it is evident that they are still not respected with the same freedoms. The feeling of disconnection from society, and the hypocritical American attitude towards african americans is still very clear today.

Frederick Douglass’ speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Highlights how hypocritical America is by pointing out that the Fourth of July is a celebration of our freedom, but not everyone is really free. The theme of America being a hypocritical country is still very apparent today in modern day issues such as same-sex marriage laws, and lasting racial tensions. In the speech, Douglass separates himself from the nation by saying “I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young.” (Douglass 256). In saying “your nation” instead of “our nation,” Douglass is creating distance between America and himself. Throughout the speech Douglass has a bit of a nervous tone when he is talking about the well-being of the nation in the future. He

says he has hope for America because it was still a very young nation. Modern day issues still capture the feeling that Douglass mentioned: minorities still feel a sense of separation from their countries.

This paper investigates how issues from past centuries can still be common in modern day society. Frederick Douglass’ speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? brings up the issue of feeling disconnected from a community. This same issue is still around today with homosexual couples who aren’t given the same respect as straight couples by their peers, and African Americans still facing oppression. Douglass’ speech is historically important because it made people aware of how, although America has a day to celebrate freedom, not every citizen is free. American hypocrisy is an issue that was prevalent hundreds of years ago and remains to be a problem today.