Frederick Douglass: what to the slave is the fourth of july?

Question

what does he mean with his allusion to the Pharoah? what does the Pharoah that was a dictator and drowned in the red sea have to do with american slavery? do they relate?

Answer 1

That is a tough question

Okay, well although America received independence from Britain on July 4th, the slaves did not, they were still slaves just the same as the day before.

The allusion to the Pharoah is presumably Ramses who drowned in the Red Sea after he attempted to reclaim the Hebrews he had just set free, who were crossing the water parted by God, via Moses.

How does this relate to eachother....

Pharoah used the Hebrew slaves as his labor force in Egypt. He set them free due to the vast number of plagues sent upon Egypt by God, as fortold by Moses. He gave in after the death of his son and released the Hebrews. Possibly upon releasing them he realized how much his society depended on them and could not survive in the same way without them, so he sought to reclaim them but failed as the parted waters closed in on him and his men.

Frederick may mean that although Americans could have freed ALL Americans, they chose only to free the nation and caucasian people from the reign of Britain, however the same legacy of slavery continued under the newly formed America.

Hope that helps!