Frederick Douglass begins his speech by directly questioning the white people in America. He asks them what their Independence Day, (4th of July), has to do with him, or the rest of the black community. He says that his people were not independent on this day, and has no relevance to them. The freedom and individual rights of the white community has no impact on the black community, and this further divides the two races. He highlights that blacks, especially slaves, are treated as subhuman, and do not enjoy the privileges that white people seem to take as a given. He ends by saying that black or white, "we are both men", meaning that there should not be such a deep divide between white people and black people, and the freedoms enjoyed by one should be enjoyed by all.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., like Frederick Douglas, was a huge speaker for black rights. Though slaves had been freed since Frederick Douglas spoke, segregation still existed and it was far from equal when Dr. King spoke.
No comments:
Post a Comment