Frederick Douglass
The Public Record
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was "the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century".
Jan 1, 1855
We owe something to the slaves, south of Mason and Dixon’s line, as well as to those north of it; and, in discharging the duty of aiding the latter, on their way to freedom, we should be careful to do nothing which would be likely to…
Jan 1, 1855
In publishing such accounts, the anti-slavery man addresses the slaveholder, not the slave; he stimulates the former to greater watchfulness, and adds to his facilities for capturing his slave.
Jan 1, 1855
I could talk and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could love and hate.
Jan 1, 1855
Nothing is more evident, than that such disclosures are a positive evil to the slaves remaining, and seeking to escape.
Jan 1, 1855
The practice of publishing every new invention by which a slave is known to have escaped from slavery, has neither wisdom nor necessity to sustain it.
Jan 1, 1855
One cannot easily forget to love freedom; and it is as hard to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures.
Jan 1, 1855
A slaveholding community has a peculiar taste for ferreting out offenses against the slave system, justice there being more sensitive in its regard for the peculiar rights of this system, than for any other interest or institution.
Jan 1, 1855
The colored man, there, must not only shun evil, but shun the very appearance of evil, or be condemned as a criminal.
Jan 1, 1855
Nothing but rigid training, long persisted in, can perfect the character of the one or the other.
Jan 1, 1855
If there be one crevice through which a single drop can fall, it will certainly rust off the slave’s chain.
Jan 1, 1855
The whole relationship must not only demonstrate, to his mind, its necessity, but its absolute rightfulness.