Responding to Douglass

Fredrick Douglas oration says that the 4th of July is a hypocritical celebration because United States ownership of slaves. He argues that 4th of July cannot be celebrated by slaves because they are not free, and can only be celebrated by white people. That The fore-fathers had fought for the independence and freedom of the 13 colonies from British rule, they were the cornerstone of the National superstructure. Now in the present time African-American are not free and independent, they are placed as slaves under slave owners. Slaves are being robbed of their liberty, worked without wages and are kept ignorant. There would be ships that carry slaves into auctions and sold or gambled away. Even the Nation had enacted a law which allows people to hunt black men, women, and children and place them into slavery.  African-Americans had their freedom stripped, lives taken away, and cruelly punished. Fredrick Douglas shows that “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity;“(10). The quote says what is the 4th of July to the American slave? It’s a day that shows him more than any other day of the year how badly he is mistreated. To him the celebration is a fake, from bragging about freedom, to the nations greatness. It explains that the celebration of the 4th of July to the American slave is day that reminds them they are not free. It’s a day that shows the type of injustice and cruelty thats going under as a foundation for the Nation. To the slaves the celebration is one big lie, and are constant insult to them.