My Proud Work

Overall this year, as far as my writing goes, I wasn't as proud as I though I would be. My writing has improved, but not as much as I had hoped. I decided to post the following answers to my blog because I took a lot of time answering these questions. They were questions regarding the speech that Frederick Douglass gave they day after the 4th of July. I thought a lot about each answer, and carefully analyzed the whole speech.


When was this speech given? Who was the audience for this speech? What was F.D.’s occupation at the time of this speech?
Frederick Douglass gave the speech “The Meaning July Fourth for the Negro” at an event which commemorated America’s Independence (a.k.a. 4th of July). The event was held in Rochester where he spoke to mostly liberal Whites, who wanted him to speak as a Black representative. This was long before the 13th Amendment, and Emancipation Proclamation. It was also after he wrote his narrative. By the time he made his speech, he and Garrison had parted ways and views (1951), specifically on the “threads of the Constitution”. Garrison believed that slavery was encouraged in the constitution, while Douglass believed differently.

Who is “us”? What contradiction is F.D. calling attention to?
In the second paragraph of his speech, Frederick mentions “us” multiple times. Here he is referring to slaves, as he is calling attention to the fact that Americans are hypocritical. He speaks of how the Declaration of Independence represents freedom of Americans, and human beings in general, while slaves did not share this right. He is saying that if the Fourth of July represents freedom from power, why aren’t slaves given the right to do the same? American talk so much of their right to freedom, given to them after the War for Independence, and do not share it.

What biblical allusion is F.D. making/ What is its intended effect?
In this paragraph Frederick Douglass refers to God, and Almoghty multiple times, while saying that he would be ashamed to see slave-owners. This is to appeal to the Christian, or religious slaveholders. Claiming that God would find it a crime to own slaves, makes them feel guilty, and sinful.

How is Douglass using the rhetorical appeal to ‘ethos’?
I would say that in this paragraph, Douglass is making himself seem like the victim, and less fortunate. He is almost making himself seem pathetic when he describes himself as one of the “woe-smitten people”.

What is the tone of this paragraph? What word choices support your analysis?
The tone of this paragraph is angry, and wrathful. Douglass often uses connotative words and phrases like: heavy and grievous, mournful wail, hideous, revolting, “solemnly binds herself to be false to the future”, outraged, etc; to get his point across.

What objections is F.D. anticipating in this paragraph? What is his counterargument respond?
He starts this paragraph by stating that many Whites believe that if slaves were to be less violent and accusatory, they would be more likely to be treated as humans. He argues that a slave is a person because they can be counted for more crimes than a White person, therefore giving them more responsibility, and in turn making them more human. A slave is also a person because there are laws that say so (where I believe he is referring to the part of the Constitution where it states that a slave is three fifths of a person).

In your opinion, what are the most effective examples of “biting ridicule” or “blasting reproach” in this speech?
I wouldn’t want to say that Douglass is being mean toward Whites, because of the pain they caused, but he is harsh, and sour toward them. He challenges their opinions, and declares them wrong and ignorant. I’m sure many would find it offensive when he said that the crimes would be thrown down by the breath of the Almighty. Multiple times, he claims that Americans are hypocritical, and mocking. I believe the harshest paragraph is the one where he uses repetition. The adjectives that he uses (that I state in the answer to the next question) are harsh, and exemplify “biting ridicule”.

What is the rhetorical effect of repetition in this paragraph?
In this paragraph Douglass doesn’t necessarily repeat words, but he repeats expressions and rephrases them. For example, he describes the Fourth of July to White people as their boasted liberty, unholy license, national greatness, swelling vanity, hollow mockery, brass fronted impudence. While he says that to a slave, Fourth of July is mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy. In those two sentences, his repetition is very effective. It leaves a lasting effect on readers.

What is the tone of this paragraph? What word choices support your analysis of tone? Why do you think F.D. chooses to end his speech this way?
I find this paragraph very passionate, and I know that Douglass feels very strongly about his opinion, and his country. He states “There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery”. The two powerful words in this sentence, that I think really stand out as passionate, are forces, and downfall. This is because he could have just said ‘slave owners’, or ‘ending’, but he chose to use these connotative words, that let me know that he is impassioned about the subject. Another sentence that I found really strong was “Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe”, whereas he could have simply stated that the knowledge of slavery is spreading. I believe he chose to end the speech this way because he wanted to end it with a strong, enduring message, without leaving on a dark, violent, or somber note.

What is your personal reaction to this speech? What emotions or response did it evoke for you?
If I were somebody standing in the crowd watching him, I would feel completely inspired after his speech. He uses such strong words, that are surprisingly eloquent. While researching, I found out that people were trying to get him to dumb down his speech so that the audience would believe he was once a slave forbidden to read and write. It’s a very moving speech, that would leave me wanting join the abolitionist movement.

A New Perspective

Reading slave narratives from real life events, and real people, only made the concept of slavery so much more real. You learn about slavery in your history class, from your parents, from your friends, and from your books, but it only remained a concept to me. Before the narratives (online and in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass) I thought “Slavery: black people were held as slaves to white farm workers, and they were often whipped. It was bad”. Frederick Douglass made me feel the emotional and physical pain that the slaves endured, while reading the narratives online put a face, and a story to the concept.
Frederick Douglass used descriptive language in his narrative to make slavery real for me. It was mostly when he was describing the whippings that I could almost literally feel the pain. The feelings were particularly authentic when Douglass described a whipping incident he witnessed in his childhood “…and after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor” (13). After reading this, I could nearly see the incident happening myself. This made slavery so much more traumatic, and like less of a theory.
The narrative on Charity Anderson wasn’t nearly as appalling as the other stories, but it was honest and showed the perspective of a better slavery experience. Anderson enjoyed her times as a slave, and even referred to it as “de good ol’ days”.  That’s a perspective you don’t exactly hear about every day, but it doesn’t justify slavery as a whole.
It was a surprise to me that even the oppressed were enslaving the oppressed. You would think the Indians would have sympathy toward African slaves, but Lucinda Davis was the slave for a Creek Indian. Davis didn’t seem to hate her owners, but didn’t speak a whole lot of good about them. The fact that Indians were holding slaves really shows how dehumanized Africans were during this time period. This gave me a new outlook on the importance of learning slavery in my history class.
The last narrative I read was a typical slave story you would hear. Walter Calloway worked hard, and his overseer whipped him and the other slaves if they didn’t do their work correctly. Calloway recalls seeing a thirteen year old girl almost dying from being whipped so violently. This is more like a story I expected to hear after reading Frederick Douglass’ narrative. One new thing I got to learn from this narrative was how he was affected by the Civil War. He looked back on when he saw soldiers burning down cotton plantations and smoke houses. He also stated “Twarn't long atter dat dey tell us we'se free. But lawdy, Cap'n, we ain't nebber been what I calls free”. He talked about how hard they worked even after they were free, and how their living conditions were often worse than they were before the Civil War. This was something we only briefly touched on in our history class. Learning this gave me some new insight as to what slaves saw, and felt even during and after the Civil War.
Through reading these narratives I was given a whole new perspective on slavery. My thoughts on slavery are no longer: it’s bad, white people were mean. I think of it as horrific, and cruel.

New School Year

Any posts from 2008 may seem completely irrelevant to anyone hoping to read posts from my Junior year, and they probably won't make sense. They were regarding a presidential election project we were working on in my Sophomore year.