LAD #16: Fredereick Douglass' Speech

An artist's rendition of Frederick Douglass giving a speech.

Douglass asks why he is called upon to give a speech, for African-Americans were not included in the celebration of Independence Day. The day only shows the incredible difference between black people and whites. The blessings of freedom and justice are only shared among whites. He asks if they were mocking him when they asked him to speak when they know they "[dragged] a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty" to celebrate the day that black people didn't have. 

The troubles of black people are worsened now, knowing they must still suffer from the troubles of slavery on a day meant to celebrate liberty; the cheer is insulting. Douglass proclaims that his words will be full of anger, but always right and just. 

It should not be surprising that black people, who do all the same things white people do, should be considered people as well. He would not spend time arguing that the slavery system was wrong, but he asks, what was an Independence Day to slaves?

He answers: It is a day that shows the slave, even more than any other day, the injustices done to him. The United States' practices are the most shocking upon the Earth. Search through the world, and the nation will realize its own barbarism and hypocrisy.