Jan 1, 1855
With him, it is literally a word and a blow, and, in most cases, the blow comes first.
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".
gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1855
Such is the constitution of the human mind, that, when pressed to extremes, it often avails itself of the most opposite methods.
Jan 1, 1855
They dance and sing, and make all manner of joyful noises—so they do; but it is a great mistake to suppose them happy because they sing.
Jan 1, 1855
The mere recurrence, even now, afflicts my spirit, and while I am writing these lines, my tears are falling.
Jan 1, 1855
They told a tale which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish.
Jan 1, 1855
I have sometimes thought, that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress truly spiritual-minded men and women with the soul-crushing and death-dealing character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of its mere…
Jan 1, 1855
In all the songs of the slaves, there was ever some expression in praise of the great house farm; something which would flatter the pride of the owner, and, possibly, draw a favorable glance from him.
Jan 1, 1855
In the most boisterous outbursts of rapturous sentiment, there was ever a tinge of deep melancholy.
Jan 1, 1855
Once on the road with an ox team, and seated on the tongue of his cart, with no overseer to look after him, the slave was comparatively free; and, if thoughtful, he had time to think.