4th of july speech by Frederick Douglass

"THE MEANING OF JULY FOURTH FOR THE NEGRO"


A negro man by the name of Fredrick Douglass was invited to speak at the Rochester Ladies Antislavery society and brought his thoughts of meaning to him of the fourth of July. Fredrick was grateful for the brave men who fought for America’s independence and always will have it in his memory with honor. He was proud but it was unfair as well and he shared that with his fellow citizens."The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. when he was a former slave he did not have all of the traits to be an independent person because he was a former slave. but as for the others who actually fought for our independence that is something he will never forget, all the suffering, pain and torture. So basically what Fredrick Douglass stated in his speech was before during the time of slavery was that Independence Day was only for white people and there were not fair rights. He stated that the kind of lives that they had to live everyday was also not fair. For example the simple man hood of a slave was planting and reaping and using all sorts of tools. But on the other hand a normal life of a white man would be as a doctor or lawyer in a office. But at the end of the day “looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!”