“Fellow-citizens…what have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? ” (Douglass) As an ex-slave Douglass embodied the antithesis of the occasion and sought to provoke a type of emotional response from the audience, which was comprised mostly of white abolitionists.ĭouglass identified with the forefather’s struggles fighting an unjust government, which so closely paralleled the African American struggle for freedom. Douglass’s speech passionately argued that in the eyes of the slave and even the “free” black man the fourth of July was a travesty of the worst kind. The speech articulated his passionate pursuit for liberty and equal rights. Through his crafty use of rhetoric, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of America in his self-referential speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July. Douglass’s philosophy was “agitate!, agitate!, agitate! ” whereas, Washington was of the ‘work!, work!, work! ” mindset. Born into slavery, Douglass and Washington shared the belief of equality, but differed on the manner in which it would be achieved. Washington fought tirelessly to eradicate slavery.

Successful, self-educated abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Comparasion of Frederick Douglass’s and Booker T.

Booker t washington quotes