I remarked to him, that no part of the American people would be treated with respect, if systematically ignored by the government, and denied all participation in its honors and emoluments.
In his autobiography, Douglass recounts a conversation where he asserts the necessity of government recognition for any group to be treated with respect.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.
I believed I should get enough to eat at Covey’s, even if I suffered in other respects, and this to a hungry man is not a prospect to be regarded with indifference.
It was perhaps better for the country and for mankind that the good man could not know the end from the beginning.
He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.