logging in or signing up Douglass: What does the black man want? Umphrey Download Post to : URL : Related Presentations : Share Add to Flag Embed Email Send to Blogs and Networks Add to Channel Uploaded from authorPOINT lite Insert YouTube videos in PowerPont slides with aS Desktop Copy embed code: (To copy code, click on the text box) Embed: URL: Thumbnail: WordPress Embed Customize Embed The presentation is successfully added In Your Favorites. Views: 1336 Category: Education License: All Rights Reserved Like it (0) Dislike it (0) Added: December 27, 2008 This Presentation is Public Favorites: 0 Presentation Description Text of a speech given by Frederick Douglass in 1865, calling for universal enfranchisement of black people, and asking that they be treated with justice rather than benevolence. Comments Posting comment... Premium member Presentation Transcript What the Black Man Wants : What the Black Man Wants Speech by Frederick Douglass April 1865 Boston, Massachusetts Slide 2: Frederick Douglass was born in a slave cabin, in February, 1818, in Maryland. In early September, 1838, at the age of twenty, Douglass succeeded in escaping from slavery. Slide 3: Frederick Douglass’s fight for freedom depended on three principles: Believe in yourself. Take advantage of opportunity. Use the power of words to change yourself and society. Slide 4: In the following excerpt of a speech he gave in 1865, he brings together the timeless themes of freedom and equality. Slide 5: I have had but one idea for the last three years to present to the American people, and the phraseology in which I clothe it is the old abolition phraseology. I am for the "immediate, unconditional, and universal" enfranchisement of the black man, in every State in the Union. Frederick Douglass: Slide 6: Without this, his liberty is a mockery; without this, you might as well almost retain the old name of slavery for his condition; Slide 7: for in fact, if he is not the slave of the individual master, he is the slave of society, and holds his liberty as a privilege, not as a right. Slide 8: He is at the mercy of the mob, and has no means of protecting himself. Slide 9: . . .It may be asked, "Why do you want it? Slide 10: Some men have got along very well without it. Women have not this right. Shall we justify one wrong by another? This is the sufficient answer. Slide 11: I know that we are inferior to you in some things --virtually inferior. We walk about you like dwarfs among giants. Our heads are scarcely seen above the great sea of humanity. Slide 12: The Germans are superior to us; the Irish are superior to us; the Yankees are superior to us; Slide 13: they can do what we cannot, that is, what we have not hitherto been allowed to do. Slide 14: But while I make this admission, I utterly deny, that we are originally, or naturally, or practically, or in any way, or in any important sense, inferior to anybody on this globe. Slide 15: . . .The story of our inferiority is an old dodge, as I have said; for wherever men oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the people oppressed and enslaved. Slide 16: It is said that we are ignorant; I admit it. But if we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. Slide 17: If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together. Slide 18: If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag, fight for the government, he knows enough to vote. Slide 19: If he knows as much when he is sober as an Irishman knows when drunk, he knows enough to vote, on good American principles. . . Slide 20: I put it to the American sense of honor. The honor of a nation is an important thing. It is said in the Scriptures, "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Slide 21: It may be said, also, What doth it profit a nation if it gain the whole world, but lose its honor? Slide 22: I hold that the American government has taken upon itself a solemn obligation of honor, to see that this war--let it be long or short, let it cost much or let it cost little--that this war shall not cease until every freedman at the South has the right to vote. . . Slide 23: What have you asked the black men of the South, the black men of the whole country to do? Why, you have asked them to incur the enmity of their masters, in order to befriend you and to befriend this Government. Slide 24: You have asked us to call down, not only upon ourselves, but upon our children's children, the deadly hate of the entire Southern people. Slide 25: You have called upon us to turn our backs upon our masters, to abandon their cause and espouse yours; to turn against the South and in favor of the North; to shoot down the Confederacy and uphold the flag-- the American flag. Slide 26: You have called upon us to expose ourselves to all the subtle machinations of their malignity for all time. Slide 27: And now, what do you propose to do when you come to make peace? Slide 28: To reward your enemies, and trample in the dust your friends? Do you intend to sacrifice the very men who have come to the rescue of your banner in the South, and incurred the lasting displeasure of their masters thereby? Slide 29: Do you intend to sacrifice them and reward your enemies? Do you mean to give your enemies the right to vote, and take it away from your friends? Slide 30: Is that wise policy? Is that honorable? Slide 31: Let me not be misunderstood here. I am not asking for sympathy at the hands of abolitionists, sympathy at the hands of any. I think the American people are disposed often to be generous rather than just. Slide 32: I look over this country at the present time, and I see Educational Societies, Sanitary Commissions, Freedmen's Associations, and the like,--all very good: Slide 33: but in regard to the colored people there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested towards us. Slide 34: What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. Slide 35: The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us. Gen. Banks was distressed with solicitude as to what he should do with the Negro. Slide 36: Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, "What shall we do with the Negro?" Slide 37: I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Slide 38: Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! Slide 39: If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! Slide 40: I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. Slide 41: All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! Slide 42: If you see him on his way to school, let him alone, don't disturb him! Slide 43: If you see him going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the ballot- box, let him alone, don't disturb him! Slide 44: If you see him going into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a positive injury. Slide 45: Let him fall if he cannot stand alone! If the Negro cannot live by the line of eternal justice, so beautifully pictured to you in the illustration used by Mr. Phillips, the fault will not be yours, it will be his who made the Negro, and established that line for his government. Slide 46: Let him live or die by that. Slide 47: If you will only untie his hands, and give him a chance, I think he will live. He will work as readily for himself as the white man. Slide 48: A great many delusions have been swept away by this war. One was, that the Negro would not work; he has proved his ability to work. Slide 49: Another was, that the Negro would not fight; that he possessed only the most sheepish attributes of humanity; was a perfect lamb, or an "Uncle Tom;" disposed to take off his coat whenever required, fold his hands, and be whipped by anybody who wanted to whip him. Slide 50: But the war has proved that there is a great deal of human nature in the Negro, and that "he will fight," as Mr. Quincy, our President, said, in earlier days than these, Slide 51: "when there is reasonable probability of his whipping anybody." You do not have the permission to view this presentation. In order to view it, please contact the author of the presentation.
Douglass: What does the black man want? Umphrey Download Post to : URL : Related Presentations : Share Add to Flag Embed Email Send to Blogs and Networks Add to Channel Uploaded from authorPOINT lite Insert YouTube videos in PowerPont slides with aS Desktop Copy embed code: (To copy code, click on the text box) Embed: URL: Thumbnail: WordPress Embed Customize Embed The presentation is successfully added In Your Favorites. Views: 1336 Category: Education License: All Rights Reserved Like it (0) Dislike it (0) Added: December 27, 2008 This Presentation is Public Favorites: 0 Presentation Description Text of a speech given by Frederick Douglass in 1865, calling for universal enfranchisement of black people, and asking that they be treated with justice rather than benevolence. Comments Posting comment... Premium member Presentation Transcript What the Black Man Wants : What the Black Man Wants Speech by Frederick Douglass April 1865 Boston, Massachusetts Slide 2: Frederick Douglass was born in a slave cabin, in February, 1818, in Maryland. In early September, 1838, at the age of twenty, Douglass succeeded in escaping from slavery. Slide 3: Frederick Douglass’s fight for freedom depended on three principles: Believe in yourself. Take advantage of opportunity. Use the power of words to change yourself and society. Slide 4: In the following excerpt of a speech he gave in 1865, he brings together the timeless themes of freedom and equality. Slide 5: I have had but one idea for the last three years to present to the American people, and the phraseology in which I clothe it is the old abolition phraseology. I am for the "immediate, unconditional, and universal" enfranchisement of the black man, in every State in the Union. Frederick Douglass: Slide 6: Without this, his liberty is a mockery; without this, you might as well almost retain the old name of slavery for his condition; Slide 7: for in fact, if he is not the slave of the individual master, he is the slave of society, and holds his liberty as a privilege, not as a right. Slide 8: He is at the mercy of the mob, and has no means of protecting himself. Slide 9: . . .It may be asked, "Why do you want it? Slide 10: Some men have got along very well without it. Women have not this right. Shall we justify one wrong by another? This is the sufficient answer. Slide 11: I know that we are inferior to you in some things --virtually inferior. We walk about you like dwarfs among giants. Our heads are scarcely seen above the great sea of humanity. Slide 12: The Germans are superior to us; the Irish are superior to us; the Yankees are superior to us; Slide 13: they can do what we cannot, that is, what we have not hitherto been allowed to do. Slide 14: But while I make this admission, I utterly deny, that we are originally, or naturally, or practically, or in any way, or in any important sense, inferior to anybody on this globe. Slide 15: . . .The story of our inferiority is an old dodge, as I have said; for wherever men oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the people oppressed and enslaved. Slide 16: It is said that we are ignorant; I admit it. But if we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. Slide 17: If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together. Slide 18: If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag, fight for the government, he knows enough to vote. Slide 19: If he knows as much when he is sober as an Irishman knows when drunk, he knows enough to vote, on good American principles. . . Slide 20: I put it to the American sense of honor. The honor of a nation is an important thing. It is said in the Scriptures, "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Slide 21: It may be said, also, What doth it profit a nation if it gain the whole world, but lose its honor? Slide 22: I hold that the American government has taken upon itself a solemn obligation of honor, to see that this war--let it be long or short, let it cost much or let it cost little--that this war shall not cease until every freedman at the South has the right to vote. . . Slide 23: What have you asked the black men of the South, the black men of the whole country to do? Why, you have asked them to incur the enmity of their masters, in order to befriend you and to befriend this Government. Slide 24: You have asked us to call down, not only upon ourselves, but upon our children's children, the deadly hate of the entire Southern people. Slide 25: You have called upon us to turn our backs upon our masters, to abandon their cause and espouse yours; to turn against the South and in favor of the North; to shoot down the Confederacy and uphold the flag-- the American flag. Slide 26: You have called upon us to expose ourselves to all the subtle machinations of their malignity for all time. Slide 27: And now, what do you propose to do when you come to make peace? Slide 28: To reward your enemies, and trample in the dust your friends? Do you intend to sacrifice the very men who have come to the rescue of your banner in the South, and incurred the lasting displeasure of their masters thereby? Slide 29: Do you intend to sacrifice them and reward your enemies? Do you mean to give your enemies the right to vote, and take it away from your friends? Slide 30: Is that wise policy? Is that honorable? Slide 31: Let me not be misunderstood here. I am not asking for sympathy at the hands of abolitionists, sympathy at the hands of any. I think the American people are disposed often to be generous rather than just. Slide 32: I look over this country at the present time, and I see Educational Societies, Sanitary Commissions, Freedmen's Associations, and the like,--all very good: Slide 33: but in regard to the colored people there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested towards us. Slide 34: What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. Slide 35: The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us. Gen. Banks was distressed with solicitude as to what he should do with the Negro. Slide 36: Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, "What shall we do with the Negro?" Slide 37: I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Slide 38: Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! Slide 39: If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! Slide 40: I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. Slide 41: All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! Slide 42: If you see him on his way to school, let him alone, don't disturb him! Slide 43: If you see him going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the ballot- box, let him alone, don't disturb him! Slide 44: If you see him going into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a positive injury. Slide 45: Let him fall if he cannot stand alone! If the Negro cannot live by the line of eternal justice, so beautifully pictured to you in the illustration used by Mr. Phillips, the fault will not be yours, it will be his who made the Negro, and established that line for his government. Slide 46: Let him live or die by that. Slide 47: If you will only untie his hands, and give him a chance, I think he will live. He will work as readily for himself as the white man. Slide 48: A great many delusions have been swept away by this war. One was, that the Negro would not work; he has proved his ability to work. Slide 49: Another was, that the Negro would not fight; that he possessed only the most sheepish attributes of humanity; was a perfect lamb, or an "Uncle Tom;" disposed to take off his coat whenever required, fold his hands, and be whipped by anybody who wanted to whip him. Slide 50: But the war has proved that there is a great deal of human nature in the Negro, and that "he will fight," as Mr. Quincy, our President, said, in earlier days than these, Slide 51: "when there is reasonable probability of his whipping anybody."