The Use of Isolation, Urgency, and Horror in Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Paulyn Annor College

In “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, Frederick Douglass addresses the hypocrisy of American Independence and calls attention to the fact that a large population of the people dwelling on American soil, African Americans, are excluded from America’s founding liberties and independence since they are physically enslaved. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” invokes the emotions of urgency, alienation, and horror to remind Douglass’s audience that not everyone in their beloved country has been allowed to celebrate independence and to highlight the hypocrisy of celebrating independence when so many people in the nation are in literal chains and bondage.

Douglass first invokes the feeling of alienation and isolation that all African Americans undoubtedly experienced during the time this speech was delivered by creating a dichotomy between the free (his white audience) and the enslaved (most African Americans in the nation in 1852). Douglass establishes this dichotomy through his use of the pronouns “you” and “I” when initially discussing how America gained independence and how the Fourth of July came to be representative of freedom and independence. Douglass says, “This for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th...