The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

Let me just start out with this blog and say that I found this story to be inspirational. I found it inspirational because Douglass, who was a Negro, was talking about how great the men who wrote the Declaration were (Douglass). He said they were great men and all but he was talking about slavery also. I found this inspirational because it was very hard back then for a black man to go up against a bunch of white people and talk about slavery and how it affects the world. I just found it great to see a man like Douglass to step it up like that.

To start out here is a quote from the story, "The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too great enough to give frame to a great age" (Douglass). I found this great because a black man who was talking in front of all these white people was brave enough to stand out and talk about the men who made the Declaration. He has a lot of respect for the men who wrote the Declaration. I am sure that the white people who are out in the crowd are not very pleased to here him speak. It took a lot of courage for him to stand up there and speak. Thoreau and Emerson are comparable to Douglass because they all wanted slavery to end. "You must either get rid of slavery or get rid of freedom"(Emerson), that is a quote from Emerson which states that he wants slavery to end. He does not agree with slavery or anything that has to do with it. "If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your won" (Baym), this is just another quote and how it portrays slavery.

What is different between the writers is that even though Emerson and Thoreau cared about slavery, Douglass really put his thought into it. Emerson and Thoreau did talk about it, but Douglass was the one living through it everyday of his life and he felt the need to go out and fight for his freedom. Overall, this story I thought was good.

Bibliography

Douglass, Frederick. "Africans in America/Part 4/Frederick Douglass Speech." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.

Baym, Nina, Ronald Gottesman, Laurence Holland, Francis Murphy, Hershel Parker, William Pritchard, Norton Anthology of American Literature, Second Edition. W. W. Norton and Company, New York: 1986.