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.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on how a slave's courage to resist an overseer could lead to a form of virtual freedom.
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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.
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