Reading
Read all of: Douglass Fourth of July.pdf
. This piece is, among other things, meant to fill out some of the contradictions of democracy in the US noted in Hannah-Jones’ “The Idea of America.”
Optional Reading: Mills Whose Fourth.pdf
. This piece is a commentary on and criticism of Douglas’ speech.
Upload your summary of “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” here by noon (lunch time). Only upload .doc or .docx format. 1) Write between 200 and 250 words (feel free to write more than 250, if you are feeling inspired); 2) be comprehensive–this is a summary of the “whole” article; 3) offer a title that brings out what you think the main point of the reading is; and 4) use your own words as much as possible. Do not write like this: “Douglass says this. Then, Douglass claims this. Douglass then suggests this, and then this.” Try as much as you can to present the ideas alone, only alerting the reader to Douglass’ authorship from time to time. If needed, see Research and Reflection Assignment 2: Hannah-Jones “The Idea of America” for help with summaries.
Author Information
Frederick Douglass
The following is drawn from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frederick-douglass/ (Links to an external site.).
Frederick Douglass (c. 1817–1895) is a central figure in United States and African American history. He was born a slave, circa 1817; his mother was a Negro slave and his father was reputed to be his white master. Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 and rose to become a principal leader and spokesperson for the U.S. Abolition movement. He would eventually develop into a towering figure for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and his legacy would be claimed by a diverse span of groups, from liberals and integrationists to conservatives to nationalists, within and without black America.
He wrote three autobiographies, each one expanding on the details of his life. The first was Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written By Himself (in 1845);[3 (Links to an external site.)] the second was My Bondage and My Freedom (in 1852a; FDAB: 103–452);[4 (Links to an external site.)] and the third was Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (in 1881; FDAB: 453–1045). They are now foremost examples of the American slave narrative. In addition to being autobiographical, they are also, as is standard, explicitly works of political and social criticism and moral suasion; they were aimed at the hearts and minds of the readers, and their greater purpose was to attack and to contribute to the abolition of slavery in the United States, and to argue for the full inclusion of black Americans into the nation.