Frederick Douglass

The fear of God and the hope of heaven were sufficient to sustain many slave women amidst the snares and dangers of their strange lot; but they were ever at the mercy of the power, passion, and caprice of their owners.

Slavery provided no means for the honorable perpetuation of the race.

Then I found, too, that there were puzzling exceptions to this theory of slavery, in the fact that all black people were not slaves, and all white people were not masters.

He could create the offense whenever it pleased him.

The doctrine that submission to violence is the best cure for violence did not hold good as between slaves and overseers.

That slave who had the courage to stand up for himself against the overseer, although he might have many hard stripes at first, became while legally a slave virtually a freeman.

The remark in the olden time was not unfrequently made, that slaves were the most contented and happy laborers in the world, and their dancing and singing were referred to in proof of this alleged fact; but it was a great mistake to…

The songs of the slaves represented their sorrows, rather than their joys.

There is no kind of work which really requires a better supply of food to prevent physical exhaustion than the field work of a slave.

The contrast between the condition of the slaves and that of their masters was marvelously sharp and striking.

It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.

This was a hard thing to do; but after much reflection I reasoned myself into the conviction that there was no other way to do, and that after all there was no wrong in it.