use more sources if needed
For the first paper, please analyze and interpret the speech delivered in Boston in 1869 by Frederick Douglass titled “The Composite Nation” in Foner, Voices of Freedom.
In the mid-nineteenth century thousand of immigrants from China came to the United States every year. Most worked low-wage jobs which white Americans refused to do, especially the railroads. But by 1869 (the year of Douglass’s speech) railroad jobs became fewer and Chinese workers went to cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles to seek work. Competing with white laborers aggravated racial tensions and led to a series of race riots.
Frederick Douglass was an Abolitionist and former slave who gained his freedom in the 1820s and dedicated his life to ending slavery. Having contributed to the ending of slavery, equal protection for black men, and the right to vote for black men, Douglass continued to work at attaining equality for African Americans. But he also lent his assistance to other movements for social and political justice, especially women and immigrants.
Why does Douglass feel the need to support the cause of Chinese immigrants?
What does he mean by describing the United States as a “composite nation”?
Why did Douglass’ views on immigrants contradict the general views that most white Americans held in the years after the Civil War?
