artifact web address:
#mce_temp_url#http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mfd&fileName=49/49001/49001page.db&recNum=0&itemLink=/ammem/doughtml/dougFolder9.html&linkText=7
The artifact is a speech Douglass gave in Broadway Tabernacle, New York on May 11th, 1853. His main purpose was there to discuss the current condition of the colored people of the United States as well as their future. In the speech he was able to show the audience the oppression the colored people had faced due to slavery and to evangelize for the abolition of it.
From the speech, I was able to see that Douglass was a black man in a white man’s world, meaning that, to Southern American principles, he was worth less than a white man, even an immigrant white man like an Irish. I also noticed that the words he used and the way he put them together was highly sophisticated and just astonishing to think that he taught himself to write in such an elegant manner. The way he used his words captivated me as I read his speech. It made me believe him whole-heartedly and want to support him in his fight for freedom. His words really depicted the image of suffering and inequality towards blacks and how though some men are free from slavery the fight is not over until all men are free.
This artifact brought up the questions of how did this speech affect the audience? What type of reaction did they have to it? Did they feel as captivated as I did? Did something, some movement, come from this speech? Did he give this same speech everywhere or was it a different speech every time?