On the record
If every slave has a right to freedom, then surely the man who withholds that right from him to-day is a man-stealer, though he may not be the first person who has robbed him of it.
Said by
Angelina Emily Grimké
Source
gutenberg.orgAngelina Emily Grimké: “If every slave has a right to freedom, then surely the man who withholds that right from him to-day is a man-stealer…”
Editor's note · Context
Grimké asserts that anyone who denies a slave their right to freedom is committing an act of theft, regardless of their role in the system.
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More from Angelina Emily Grimké
Perhaps you have feared the consequences of immediate Emancipation, and been frightened by all those dreadful prophecies of rebellion, bloodshed and murder, which have been uttered.
What can I say more, my friends, to induce you to set your hands, and heads, and hearts, to this great work of justice and mercy.
There is nothing to fear from immediate Emancipation, but every thing from the continuance of slavery.
I have endeavoured to set before you the exceeding sinfulness of slavery, and to point you to the example of those noble women who have been raised up in the church to effect great revolutions, and to suffer for the truth's sake.