Over the years, many American authors such as Frederick Douglass and William Apess have come to respond to inequality and dehumanization by writing passionately, and intelligently, about their American Dream in hopes of ensuring equality and freedom for all Americans.
The constitution of our nation begins by stating that the people of the United States of America are striving for a more perfect union. Still many of its people, mainly the African Americans, were targeted as inferior and denied the rights the other white American citizens enjoyed. Over the years, many American authors such as Frederick Douglass and William Apess have come to respond to this inequality and dehumanization by writing passionately, and intelligently, about their American Dream in hopes of ensuring equality and freedom for all Americans. Frederick Douglass was a well known writer and public speaker. On July 5th, 1852, Douglass delivered his speech titled, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” to a large crowd of white men who celebrated this holiday. Throughout the speech, Douglass seems to praise the wonders of the rights that the citizens of this nation are entitled to. While referring to those rights and freedoms, Douglass does not use a possessive form of speech; instead he refers to them as belonging to his audience. In his speech Douglass states, “I am not included in the pale of this glorious anniversary.” In other words, Douglas is letting his audience know that he does not feel like he is being treated equivalently to the members of his audience.
Douglass, a former slave whose freedom was bought, was aware of the unequal rights the African Americans received. Although these rights were now guaranteed to the newly freed slaves by many legal American documents, such as the Bill of Rights and our prestigious Constitution, our nation found ways to overlook the African American community by establishing the Jim Crow policies and other restrictions like poll taxes and reading requirements. Even after slavery was abolished, African Americans were still considered a second class to the white citizens. Douglass later states in his speech that “[t]o drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join [them] in joyous anthems [was] inhumane mockery and sacrilegious.” Basically what Douglass is saying is that even when he was not a slave and was being somewhat included with the whites, he still felt mocked and ridiculed by the whites. As a freed slave, Douglass’ American Dream was to be considered no different and no less than a white citizen. Another well known author, who’s American Dream focuses on equality, is William Apess. In his essay, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man,” Apess explores the unjust treatment and disrespect that the Native Americans received from the whites. At this time (circa 1800’s) white men were educated and well respected. Indians, on the other hand, were often describes as savages, unintelligent and attacked. He asks “Why are they not educated and placed in your pulpits?”.
In saying this, he is trying to make his readers reflect on why this injustice is happening and what can be done to change it. Apess goes on to question “Why the men of a different skin are so despised?” By posing this question, Apess is trying to get his readers to contemplate on what he, like Douglas and many others, had noted; an obvious separation of races. He wanted his readers to realize that he and his people are also human beings who wanted the equal rights and treatment the white men had. Apess noticed the discrimination and unequal standards by which the Indians were treated and sought out to have them changed. Frederick Douglass and William Apess were only two of the many writes whose American Dream was to be equal to other human beings. These two American writers are now well respected names due to their words, ideas, and their hard work towards achieving The American Dream for us all.
