...Frederick Douglass was unique among reformers for not only having powerful rhetorical skills and eloquent expression, but personal experience to aid in his calls for reform. Many other reformers did not have personal experience with the subjects of their speeches, so their ability to evoke pain and oppression was limited. Even among those who had experienced oppression, Frederick Douglass still had the most powerful voice. His speech for abolition blends poignant evocations of slave’s suffering, righteous indignation at such suffering, and appeals to audiences Christian sense of justice. Among all of the reformer’s speeches, his The Hypocrisy of American Slavery, had the most powerful and persuasive tone. Dorothea Dix and Horace Mann both...
Words: 848 - Pages: 4
...be self-evident that all men are created equal” with one huge unwritten disclaimer, “except African Americans”. Sarcastically written, this doctrine inspired many activists and abolitionists during that era to fight for freedom and equality for all. Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth were two of the most prominent figures of the abolitionist movement in 19th-century America. Their speeches, “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” by Federick Douglass and “Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth, are iconic speeches that continue to resonate with audiences today. Both speeches influence their perspective on equality for African Americans through rhetorical appeals and devices. Truth successfully gains the empathy of...
Words: 1609 - Pages: 7
...Life isn’t fair, but it is. There will always be things that afflict us from the injustices of the past, present, and future. And one of the most horrific and brutal times in history was the time of slavery. In this case, Frederick Douglass (a former slave who escaped and joined the abolitionist movement to speak out), used his experiences of dehumanization and inequality to justify the injustices of his world in The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by using the appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos in his writings and speeches. On July 5, 1852, Douglass spoke out to the almost 600 people in the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society to deliver what would become one of the most revolutionary speeches in all of U.S. history. His delivery of...
Words: 1690 - Pages: 7
...numerous references to the Bible? Christianity is a religion based on values of love, respect, forgiveness, and understanding, and the Bible is the book from which those values are taught. Frederick Douglass, born into slavery, was a prominent figure in the fight to abolish slavery, and a great speech giver. In his speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass centrals his argument around Christianity to bring to light the sham under which his audience resides, and makes numerous references to the Bible to support his claim. It has been, and still is to this day, said that the United States of America was built upon a foundation of Judeo-Christian values. In what feels to be increasingly heated words, Douglass speaks on behalf of the American slave, presenting to his audience the travesty they have made of the Christian faith. He explains that “American Christianity” is “to [the American slave], mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a this veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” (Douglass 485). Through the use of harsh words, Douglass is hoping they will penetrate the souls of those listening, resulting in sorrow and guilt for allowing such a travesty to arise from a religion based on love and respect. Further into his speech, Douglass emphasizes on how the lives of his audience are a sham, and he feels he is helping them to do right by making them first feel guilt, and then understand why that is. Using references...
Words: 827 - Pages: 4
...If you had the chance to speak in front of hundreds of people, and make a life-changing speech that could end slavery, would you? Frederick Douglass, a former slave, presented his speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” at a celebration of the Declaration of Independance, but took it upon himself to make it known that the Fourth of July was not a day of celebration for him or his people. Douglass utilized pathos, rhetorical questions, and repetition to drive home his argument against slavery and to encourage his audience to also fight for equality between everyone. Pathos is a quality that evokes sadness and pity. Douglass used pathos all throughout his speech to continuously catch the attention of his audience and to give them a surreal realization of the world surrounding them. For example, in lines 60-67, Douglass referred to the slave and to humanity as “bleeding”, “fettered”, and “trampled upon.” He needed to use such thought-provoking words in order to catch the attention of his audience and to maintain that hold throughout the entire speech. Douglass also tried to incorporate his own emotion into his speech....
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
...The essence of this paper requires a contrast and comparison view on two important historical articles; Fredrick Douglass “What to the slave is the fourth of July” and David Walker’s “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World”. The essay will attempt to discuss the very famous speech Fredrick Douglas made in 1952 as well as David’s Walker’s appeal while comparing and contrasting both the appeal and the speech. Afterward, a summary will be given and a conclusion will be drawn. As we look throughout history, one would argue that we couldn’t find a more appalling and unjust act as that of slavery. Slavery played a major role of not only history but of an innumerable amount of American people. In David Walker’s appeal and Fredrick Douglass what to the slave is the fourth of July, men and women of African American descent struggle with the reality of slavery and the cruel results and affect it had on people like themselves. Fredrick Douglas was one of the most influential African Americans of his day, in spite of his inauspicious beginning, he was born into slavery on a plantation in Maryland where he was called Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey. Douglas always suspected that his father was his mother’s white owner, Captain Aaron Anthony. He spent his early childhood in privation on the plantation then he was sent to work as a house slave for the auld family in Baltimore. There, he came in contact with printed literature and quickly realized the relationship between literacy...
Words: 3165 - Pages: 13
