“The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”

Frederick Douglass' "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" was a very eye opening piece. Douglass, a former slave, was a speaker and author on antislavery and was a renown abolitionist (Douglass 336). His "July Fourth for the Negro" speech was given to a white audience, who I am sure had never thought of the 4th of July as a slap in the face to African Americans in America (Douglass 337). Douglass believes the celebration of the fourth of July is "a thin veil to cover up the crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages" (Douglass 337). Ralph Waldo Emerson's argument that a "flippant mistaking for freedom of some paper preamble, like a Declaration of Independence, or the statute right to vote" is a assumption made by the "superficial" white American (Hawthorne). Emerson's argument would have fit in well with Fredrick Douglass' speech in Rochester New York (Emerson 337). Ralph Waldo Emerson was very blunt with his views on slavery, just as Thoreau was. Henry David Thoreau believed that slavery was "the issue" of his time (Harding). He was a big supported of John Brown, a rebellious antislavery martyr, and Brown's need to change the country as an individual (Cisco). Henry David Thoreau was all about the individual and self reliance (Harding). Fredrick Douglass made clear in his speech that white men were not thinking of black people when they celebrate the nation's independence (Douglass 337). His reasoning is sound as the shouts of "liberty and equality" did not apply to all Americans (Douglass 337). While white Americans were living well off and free, while both slave and free blacks were living in poverty, with cruelty and violence looming over their shoulders everyday (Douglass 336). The African Americans were slowly granted rights in America, only for those rights to be taken away by white supremacists and Black Codes. After abolitionists like Fredrick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau were gone, there work still resonated with Americans, spurring new antislavery movements (Cisco).


Cisco, Michael. "Henry David Thoreau: Bachelor of Thought and Nature." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Henry David Thoreau, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 05 Feb. 2012.

Douglass, Frederick. "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 336-337. Print.

Harding, Walter. A Thoreau Handbook by Walter Harding: pp. 131-173 (New York University Press, 1959). © 1959 by New York University Press. Quoted as "Thoreau's Ideas" in Harold Bloom, ed. Henry David Thoreau, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 05 Feb. 2012.

Hawthorne, Julian. "Emerson as an American." In The Genius and Character of Emerson. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1885. Quoted as "Emerson as an American." in Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 05 Feb. 2012.