Monday, 9/7 – Friday, 9/11
(Monday: Labor Day–no classes)
By end-of-day Wednesday, 9/9
READING:
- Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Negro is the Fourth of July?”
- Listen to “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
- Note: there are different version of this text’s title
WRITING:
Quick Comments
- Look at your peers’ Micro-Activity #3 posts from Wednesday. Are there any DC problems/issues that connect with yours? Or have any peers listed issues related to their DC that you have not considered? Write comments on at least two of your peers’ observations (approx. 25 words) either adding on to what they’ve said or helping them fine-tune what they are discussing.
Micro-Activity #4: Responding to Douglass
- Write a post under Student Work: Unit 1 Work in which you do the following:
- Having read and listened to Douglass’s speech, what do you believe he is arguing? Pick two quotations from the text that help support your understanding, and then do the following for each quote:
- Quote the passage/lines using proper MLA citation formatting (be sure to quote accurately). For assistance in quoting something in MLA format, go to this page.
- Paraphrase the quote (put it in your own words). For assistance in paraphrasing a quote, go to this page.
- Respond to the quote and explain how this quote supports your interpretation of the text.
- Having read and listened to Douglass’s speech, what do you believe he is arguing? Pick two quotations from the text that help support your understanding, and then do the following for each quote:
In your response, use the following format:
Quote 1:
Paraphrase:
Response:
Quote 2:
Paraphrase:
Response:
- Find two more quotes where Douglass’s writing strategy gets your attention, and think about how you might use these strategies as models for your own writing. (Remember: for Unit 1: Investigating a Discourse Community you will be writing your own speech or letter.)
In your response, use the following format:
Quote 3:
Identify the writing strategy you see Douglass using:
Explain why you find this useful, persuasive, or effective in some way:
Quote 4:
Identify the writing strategy you see Douglass using:
Explain why you find this useful, persuasive, or effective in some way:
- Â
Chelsea Brenyah
September 8,2020
English 1121
Micro-Activity#4
-I believe that Frederick Douglass speech argued against slavery.
Quote 1: “It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.” (pg 1 paragraph 4)
Paraphrase: Today they (white people) are celebrating their independence day. The day they became free from the British, and was able to dictate their own way of running their country. They had stood up to their oppressor and at the end succeeded.
Response: Frederick Douglass starts off his peach letting the audience know that he had nothing to celebrate for. Although he’s a “freeman” his people aren’t free, so there’s really nothing to be celebrating when his people are still fighting to end slavery. Even as a freeman black person, they still didn’t have many rights, such as the right to vote and participate in any political aspect. There isn’t anything to celebration until we are able to solve one of the biggest problem in the nation which is slavery. In the Declaration of Independence it states that “ all men are created equal” but yet there isn’t any equality for blacks, aren’t they men too?
Quote 2: “You were under the British crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgement, it deemed wise, right and proper.” (pg2 Paragraph 5).
Paraphrase: They once used to be under British power, although they were far from home and were trying to start a new life they were being controlled by the English Government. Their fathers endured many hardships as colonists, they were restricted from many things, and were treated unfairly.
Response:These people felt the pain of being oppressed and fought 76 years ago to gain their Independence. To be free and to be able to have control on their own lives, and to be treated fairly. They wanted to be treated equally and have a say in their political system. In the Douglass speech he says “oppression makes a wise man mad” (Pg 3 paragraph 10), it makes me think back when the colonists decided to rebel against the British, one of the famous events that happened was the Boston tea party. In which the people dumped all the tea out of the ship as a sign of rebellion, after being oppressed for so long they grew fraustion and fought against what’s right. For them to know how it feels to be controlled by someone they should me more understanding of why slavery should be abolished.
Quote 3: “They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change ! of this sort of change they are always strongly in Favor.” (Pg 3 paragraph 11)
Identify the writing strategy you see Douglass using: In this quote Douglass uses an analogy to describe change in the nation and change as a currency. He also uses an exclamation mark as a form of demand and meaning. I like that fact that he uses an exclamation mark in his speech so that when he gives the speech the tone of his voice gets powerful and you see this throughout his speech. Also the analogy was really effective because it shows how greedy the people are, they value money way more than a human life in which case is the “negro life’. This quote expresses passion and pain.
Quote 4: “The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.” (Pg 3 Paragraph)
Identify the writing strategy you see Douglass using: Douglass uses lots of commas which shows that he paused after every sentence and word. He also uses a semicolon to link two clauses so it wouldn’t be a run on sentence. With each pause in his speech it signifies meaning and clarity of what he is trying to say. I find this useful because it’s very symbolic. He talks about how their fathers worked so hard for freedom but yet they haven’t gained any knowledge from this and still continue to oppress black people because of their own selfish benefits.