Frederick Douglass Hypocrisy Analysis

In 1776, on July 4th, the 13 English colonies officially declared their freedom from England. However, as the years progressed, slavery became incorporated into everyday American life. In 1852, former slave Frederick Douglass gave a speech to celebrate America’s independence; however, instead of praising the country, he censured Americans for saying they were a “country of the free”. In the speech, Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Frederick Douglass declares that Americans should not be celebrating their freedom when there are slaves living in the country. To convince his audience that Americans are wrong celebrating freedom on the 4th of July when slavery exists in their country, he uses emotional appeal, ethical appeal, and rhetorical questions.

Chesnutt uses “The Sheriff was conscientious: his conscience had merely been warped by his environment” (43) to present he had been warped into the racial environment of the town. Warp is water imagery because it reveals the damage water can leave behind. Chesnutt allows the reader to understand that “warped” illustrates water to reveal how racism warped the sheriff’s conscience as water would warp a wood floor after a flood. He demonstrates his idea of consumption of racism by expressing the racial damage that is done by southern white men on the town and African Americans. He allows the reader to understand his ideas by revealing “But the baleful influence of human slavery poisoned the fountains of life, and created new standards of right”

The use of questions allows the listener to think about what truly is being celebrated and how hypocritical it is when there are millions of slaves that are not granted with the same liberties. He uses strong word choice to inflict sympathy and anger in order to motivate the crowd to stand up to the injustice. His use of antithesis emphasized the bias blacks are treated with and how they are not able to celebrate freedom. In the end the audience is left shocked, horrified, angered, and driven to take action against the hypocrisy of celebrating the fourth of

Fredrick Douglass had said” what is American slave, is your Fourth of July”. “ a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in a year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim” what he is saying that is that slave did not do anything for July fourth and basically was a sham. The readers would learn that Africa American was treated differently because of there skin color. They should see how Fredrick Douglass felt when this is going

As, Abraham Lincoln said: “When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” Mark Twain, in his book continually criticizes the cruelty of human beings. One of the main themes that Mark Twain worked in his novel was the cruelty involved with Slavery. The life of a slave depicts that human beings are not always as benevolent as they appear to be. Twain in this novel exhibits the perfidious ways of slavery in America by ridiculing slavery’s outlandish ways.

As Iago manipulates Othello, Othello starts to believe that his marriage with Desdemona has become ‘’blackened’’ with lies, Othello becomes more aware of himself as a black man in a white world and begins to use racial stereotypes. He now too views blackness as something negative. “Her name, that was as fresh as Dian’s visage, is now begrimed and black as my own face” (3.3.387-391). When Othello starts to suspect that Desdemona is cheating on him he suggests that his reputation is soiled and begrimed because of her adultery. Othello slanders his race when talking about his reputation, he compares his prior good reputation to the freshness of a white face and now that Othello feels like Desdemona tainted his reputation, he compares it to his ‘begrimed and black face’.

During the Haitian Revolution through August 21, 1791, to January 1, 1804, slaves were imported from Africa and oppressed by the white, French population. The slaves were outraged at the mistreatment and decided to revolt against their masters. There were many causes that started the revolution, such as social, economic, and political inequality between the white French and everyone else. The revolution itself also had an important legacy that inspired hope for the future of those oppressed as well as more negatively, death and tragedy. The Haitian Revolution was caused by oppressive slavery and discrimination against all but the French elite and led to the death of French and Haitians alike, the French’s expulsion from the island, and the spread of hope and freedom to other oppressed people all over the world.

For many years racism and colonialism have been the reality of the world. Both were used to advance the idea that one race was superior to another, the blacks being inferior to the whites. The Atlantic Slave trade headed the notion of colonialism, the whites believed it was their duty to civilize the blacks as they were seen as ‘untamed beasts’ that needed to be colonized. This resulted in a number of whites exploiting the blacks to gain wealth whilst, the blacks lost everything (families, identities and even their lives). The whites were skilled at manipulating to the point that some blacks believed their views as they often found ways to justify their actions.

This quote showed how they don’t care about Jim and how they just care about the money. Another quote “While slaveholders profit from slavery, the slaves themselves are oppressed, exploited, and physically and mentally abused. Jim is inhumanely ripped away from his wife and children. However, white slaveholders rationalize the oppression, exploitation, and abuse of black slaves by ridiculously assuring themselves of a racist stereotype, that black people are mentally inferior to white people, more animal than human.” (LitCharts).

The “White Blacks” or mulattoes were symbols of illegal miscegenation, fornification and rape, which often lead to rejection. They also reminded some of the “pure Blacks” of slavery, and how Whites favored them, which lead them to being shunned by both communities (The Tragic Mulatto 6). Many important African-Americans relationships has been impaired by colorism, such as Du Bois and Garvey. Garvey, once described Du Bois as "a little Dutch, a little French, a little Negro...a mulatto...a monstrosity.". Where as Du Bois characterized Garvey as, "a little, fat black man; ugly, but with intelligent eyes and a big head."

Douglass demonstrates how religious hypocrisy morally bankrupts the white slave holders turning them into brutes in their supposedly superior social class. While at Coveys plantation, Douglass sees the religious hypocrisy of the slave holders. The slave holders set Covey above them as if his words and ideas are divine. They have a corrupt sense of morality, using religion as a base for their rules of slave holding

Module 9 Discussion Assignment Yes LeeAnna Keith believes the failure of Reconstruction was due to racism. Angry whites, seething over blacks finally gaining similar rights and some political power, worked to undermine the efforts of Reconstruction. Keith describes the assault of the Grant Parish courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873. According to Keith, the event that took place at the courthouse was a microcosm of the general intolerance and unacceptance of post-slavery black progress by racist whites (403).

Nativist sentiment pushed many to violate the rights of blacks. The defeat of the confederates in the South was not only devastating to the landscape and people, but also to the morals of the people. Carpetbaggers and scalawags served as “living reminders of military defeat” ("America 's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War"). This inspired “racial prejudice as well as more measured criticisms of Reconstruction policies,” as well as the Southern states “depriv[ing] blacks of their rights to vote” in violent ways ("America 's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War"). The ideals of Social Darwinism also gave white men another possible justification for their treatment, providing a reason for them to believe that blacks were poor and desolate because they didn’t work hard enough.

As a summary, Frederick Douglass’s “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An

, the Jews were being tortured. The Christians also accused them of being the cause of the Black Death and would torment them until they admitted to bad deeds. Christians would take whole cities of Jews and burn them at the stake. People’s belief was not as strong after the Black Death, because religion failed to cure the destructive illness. The appearance of black or purple blotches on the skin is thought to be the origin of the name ‘Black Death’.