The Meaning of July Fourth for the Nengro

Fredrick Douglas was a former slave. He is African American and free. He knew how to read and write even though the white male slave owners thought it was bad (Resistance). They thought that an African American that knew how to read and write would be a threat to the land (Resistance). Douglas knew how to read and write (Resistance). He knew it would help him to become free which was very hard in the time period (Resistance). In Douglas' work, "The Meaning of July Fourth to a Negro is talking about the feelings African Americans have during a time of happiness for our country (Douglas). The Fourth of July is a holiday on July Fourth that celebrates the freedom of our country form Britain. The meaning is not the same for the slaves. They are not free and the holiday shows how hypocritical America can be. Douglas states, "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" (Douglas). This explains how the slaves thought of the holiday. While the whites were celebrating their independence, the salves were being forced to do things they do not want to do. I was not a fan of slavery. The owners could at least pay them for their work and not beat them. They would still need work and the owners would probably pay the same amount from buying the slave anyway. Our country could have been through much less of the turmoil we went through and are still going through.

Fredrick Douglas' writing "The Meaning of July Fourth to the Negro" is an example of realism writing. It is because Realism is a writing style that tries to give a story that has real aspects in it. It shows real parts of life (Werlock).
I know Douglas' writing is realism because he talks about things that are real. He does ad things in the story to make it sound worse, he tells the truth. He talks about the harassment the African Americans go through during the time of freedom for the Whites (Douglas). He mentions that the whites did not earn their freedom like the salves do (Douglas). He says, "The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me." (Douglas). He gives the reader his true feelings about the difference of the holiday to the slaves than the their masters. The book "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" is a biography or opinion of Fredrick Douglas. He was educated. Not many slaves around time were educated. The salves that were educated talked about their lives and their experiences (Resistance). They were real stories about their life's and how they were affected by slavery. That makes it realism because they are giving real information and not putting in things that are not necessary (Werlock). Douglas' story shows realism in a good and true way.

Douglas, Fredrick. "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 337. Print.

"Resistance to Slavery." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 336. Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/