Analysis of "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro"

The speech delivered by Frederick Douglass entitled "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" falls into the regular Realism genre. This speech was delivered to a white congregation, which was in itself a reflection of Realism. Realism was one of the first genres to bring about the use of narrators that were not considered the norm in previous generations. Typically the narrators before had been well educated white males. The fact that an African American was giving a speech was in and of itself a reflection of Realism.

This speech was delivered in 1852, which made its contents appropriate for the time period (Douglass, 337). It also occurred furing the middle of the civil war, which is why it was appropriate. The speech talked about the injustice of Fourth of July celebration for the negroes. In the purest definiton of Realism, the speech that was delivered was simply real. Frederick Douglass used a combination of emotions and facts in order to get his point across, which is a fundamental concept of Realism. Realism is all about the mixing of Rationalism and Romanticism. One relies purely on scientific facts while the other relies on feelings and emotions to convey its point. In Realism, these two ideas are joined. In this way, Frederick Douglass played upon the emotions of the people by approaching them with solid facts about the injustice (Douglass, 337).

Frederick Douglass' point in "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" is that America was being incredibly hyocritical in their celebration of the Fourth of July (Douglass, 337). The whole point of that holiday is to celebrate that all people in the country are free from the chains and bondage that was imposed upon them my Great Britain. However, while they are sitting there celebrating their own freedom, slaves are being help captive in that same country that seems to value freedom so greatly. In this way Douglass displays the idea of Realism by using the everyday African American person as the hero (Douglass, 337).

An important aspect of Realism is the hero and who is displayed as a hero in this literature . The hero is normally a person that people will be able to relate to very well and sympathize with. He is typically an average citizen who is just trying to make the most of the situations that he is thrust into. In Frederick Douglass' speech, although it was written by an African American man about the plights of African American people to a strictly white audience, he played upon the basic ideas of humanity and the rights that we all share (Douglass, 337). This is where some of the emotion comes into play. Sometimes guilt is the best way to make someone understand what they have done that was wrong. Frederick Douglass employed the guilt factor by making the white men realize that they are being hypocritical by saying that they deserved their freedom from Great Britain but the African Americans do not deserve freedom from their bondage as well (Douglass, 337).

Douglass, Frederick. from "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." Glencoe American Literature.comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg 337.