Introduction
Frederick Douglass's speech has an important message than can applied today despite being given over 150 years ago Narration Despite America being founded on ideals of liberty and freedom many Americans were slaves and denied the rights supposedly given to them by God. By treating Black Americans as sub-human many felt like the 4th of July was not celebrating independence but mocking their enslavement. Division It is obvious that the rights of Black Americans and White Americans are the same today and have been a great leap ahead since the speech Douglass gave in 1852. However, it would be dishonest to say that the status of Black Americans and White Americans was the same after slavery was abolished. Proof With sharecropping and other means of debt enslavement taking place after slavery was abolished it would be unfair to say the African-Americans truly had the same freedoms to enjoy on the 4th of July as other Americans. This is because Sharecropping made African Americans slaves to debt instead of slaves in the traditional sense. Refutation While laws against sharecropping have been put in place to stop sharecropping there are still ways that minority groups are targeted financially, and things like payday loans that target minorities and redlining up until the 1990's have affected minority groups financially which takes advantage of their right to private property. Conclusion Despite the major strides we have taken for equality, the effects of targeting minority groups financially can still be seen today and echo to some extent the disenfranchisement that Frederick Douglass felt in his speech.
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