Realism Project: Frederick Douglass and the Meaning of the Fourth of July

On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Frederick Douglass gave his speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" to a white audience, explaining his beliefs on the holiday (Douglass, 337). In this speech, he criticized the American holiday, the Fourth of July, saying that it is hypocritical, as it celebrates the American freedom from Britain, but mocks the slavery of African Americans. "To him [the African American slave], your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy--a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages" (Douglass, 337). This is a section from Frederick Douglass's speech on why the holiday is a terrible hypocrisy to the African slave.

Frederick Douglass made this speech in 1852, which was during the Realism literary time period. Likewise, his speech, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," shows obvious examples of realism. One of the characteristics of realism is that it deals with real places, real history, real people, real occurrences. The Fourth of July is a major holiday in America; that is the real setting--a characteristic of realism. The next sign of realism in this speech is that it deals with a major situation that really happened in the United States of America--slavery. Slavery in the United States lasted approximately one hundred years, and throughout it, but specifically towards the end, the conflict filled the United States with much angst and concern. The topic of Frederick Douglass's speech was soaked in realism.

The next characteristic of Frederick Douglass's speech, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," was that it combined facts and emotion, something very common to the Realism literary period. Frederick Douglass said that slavery was a problem, and he talked about what went on in slavery; this is the factual part of the speech. When Frederick Douglass goes into how it appears to the African American slave and how it feels to them, that is the emotional part of the speech. "...
your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless..." (Douglass, 337). Combining the factual and emotional parts of the speech gives it a completely realistic character.

The structure and topics of this speech are what give it that realistic quality. It was about a real event, during a real time; this speech happened. Also, the use of of facts and emotions give it the realistic quality. During the slavery movement, many abolitionist speeches arose, and they could almost all be characterized as realist literary period speech. They are considered this, because they all contain the same structure and topics that Frederick Douglass used in his speech, making them a key proponent of the Realism Literary Period.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. "The Meaning of July Fourth to the Negro." American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 337. Print.