On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
These holidays are conductors or safety valves to carry off the explosive elements inseparable from the human mind, when reduced to the condition of slavery.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “These holidays are conductors or safety valves to carry off the explosive elements inseparable from the human mind, when…”
Editor's note · Context
In his autobiography, Douglass uses a metaphor to explain how slave holidays served to prevent rebellion among enslaved people.
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Jan 1, 1881
His iron sentences, cold and harsh, sunk like heavy weights deep into my heart, and stirred up within me a rebellion not soon to be allayed.
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The good to be sought and the evil to be shunned were flung in the balance and weighed against each other.