Question

frederick douglass, what the black man wants
in april 1865, millions of enslaved americans were on the verge of being freed. white americans wondered what to do. douglass explained what he thought black people wanted.
we may be asked, i say, why we want the right to vote. i will tell you why we want it. we want it because it is our right, first of all. no class of men can, without insulting their own nature, be content with any deprivation① of their rights. we want it, again, as a means for elevating our race. men are so constituted that they derive their conviction of their own possibilities largely from the estimate formed of them by others. if nothing is expected of a people, that people will find it difficult to contradict that expectation. by depriving us of suffrage, you affirm our incapacity to form an intelligent judgment respecting public men and public measures; you declare before the world that we are unfit to exercise the elective franchise②, and by this means lead us to undervalue ourselves, to put a low estimate upon ourselves, and to feel that we have no possibilities like other men...
what i ask for the negro is not benevolence③, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. the american people have always been anxious to know who they shall do with us... i have had but one answer from the beginning. do nothing with us! your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. do nothing with us! 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!④ and if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. all i ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! let him alone! if you see him on his way to school, let him alone, - dont disturb him! 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, - dont disturb him!
analyzing primary sources
cite specific evidence from the document to support your answer.

1. understand effects what effect does depriving black men of suffrage have on them?
2. determine authors point of view what is douglasss main message in this excerpt?

Explanation:

1. Depriving Black men of suffrage leads them to be seen as unfit to exercise the elective franchise, makes them form a low - estimate of themselves and feel they have no possibilities like other men, as stated in "By depriving us of suffrage...and to feel that we have no possibilities like other men."
2. Douglass's main message is that Black men want the right to vote as it is their right, and they seek justice, not benevolence, pity or sympathy. He also wants White Americans to leave Black men alone and let them exercise their rights freely, as shown by "We want it because it is our right...let him alone!".

Answer:

1. It makes them be regarded as unfit to vote, causes them to have a low self - estimate and feel inferior in possibilities compared to other men.
2. Black men want the right to vote as a right and seek justice, and White Americans should leave them alone to exercise their rights.