Frederick Douglass performed an effective speech titled, “What to the American Slave is your 4th of July?” Douglass is a former slave himself, and he was asked to come to speak in Rochester, NY during Independence Day. He asks those he is speaking to “Why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence?” The situation they put him in makes him turn hostile, using sassy remarks and rhetorical questions to make them question themselves.Douglass is infuriated that they ask him to speak during a day celebrating freedom when not everyone in America is yet free. By standing up and beating white males down a peg he makes his point, quick and powerful. He will not bend to our will, he won’t
