Question

According to Douglass, who is unable to experience the joy of the celebration?

Answer 1

According to Douglass, all enslaved people are unable to experience the joy of the celebration.

To add, Frederick Douglass was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

Answer 2

In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglass argues that enslaved people cannot experience the joy of the celebration of the Fourth of July due to their enslaved condition. He makes a parallel between the fight for independence of the colonists and the fight for freedom of slaves and abolitionists. He also says that the celebration of "American" values such as equality, freedom, liberty and citizenship is an offence to slaves, as they do not enjoy any of these benefits. It is one of Douglass's most famous texts.