Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: I heard the words brother and sisters, and knew they must mean something; but slavery had robbed these terms of their…

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
I heard the words brother and sisters, and knew they must mean something; but slavery had robbed these terms of their true meaning.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

From his autobiography, Douglass explains how slavery stripped fundamental family terms like "brother" and "sister" of their inherent emotional and social significance.

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