Discussion Starter: What to the Slave is the Fourth if July

In What to the Slave is the Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass reveals the hypocrisy of America’s ongoing slavery and its pride in freedom. Frederick introduces this issue in a polite and humble tone for allowing him to speak on the fourth of July despite his ”little experience and less learning.” However, he unleashes the irony of American ideals with subtly. He constantly refers to the fourth of July as “your National Independence” asserting how he, and the black population, were never acknowledged or a part of America’s ideal. He then weaves through the story of peaceful men who “preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage” guilting his audience into feeling shame for celebrating the fourth of July knowing how the story of American Independence mirrors the fight against slavery. Frederick attempts to humanize black slaves in a way in which white Americans can understand their own hypocrisy. By relating both experiences to each other, Frederick wants White Americans to understand that their is no difference between them; surely Americans must understand that freedom shouldn’t be a privilege.

Interestingly, Frederick also uses Christianity as a way to humanize black slaves in the eyes of White Americans. He recounts how a religion indifferent to slavery is immoral as it “ tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man”. By using religion, Douglass aims at people’s morals while affirming that everyone under God is equal since God is the “fatherhood of the race”; to deny this fact is a denial at God. Frederick’s goal of making the fight against slavery a relatable experience and proving it is immoral reminds me of how current black activist groups also attempt to normalize their protesting for black rights. Some media outlets like to write off their protesting as rioting, disregarding the same type of actions taken by white Americans without backlash. By unveiling the hypocritical nature of how media presents their actions in comparison to other groups, black people still struggle to be equally heard or treated by America.