As I looked at this reading assignment, I began to muse about what Fredrick Douglass, an abolitionist, could have to do with Ideologies? I stopped and said "wait what?" Then I read the article (well most of it, I skimmed over some of the boring stuff but hey who hasn't?) and wait... yup at one time people actually thought that it was okay to have slaves. I particularly enjoyed the first part of the speech. To many who were listening to it on that day, they probably were thinking he was just praising the "fore fathers" for being patriotic. Reading it today, it is quite evident to see that he was drawing parallel after parallel to the slaves' collective struggle for freedom to the struggle that the revolutionaries did during the war.
We now live in a time when it seems that racism should be evaporating faster than the profits made in the stock market. It is good to remember how, can I say stupid?, okay stupid people were back in the day. One last thought, this speech reminded me of the Patriot (rip heath, you are the man) of the slave who was signed to serve by his "master." He was able to fight for the freedom of a nation, and his own personal freedom from bondage. Even after he serves his six months required to be free, he fights for a better world. I know its a movie, but still, its a good thought to end on.
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