Though they were not slaves they were not yet quite free.
Frederick Douglass: “Though they were not slaves they were not yet quite free.”
Editor's note · Context
Douglass describes the paradoxical state of formerly enslaved people after emancipation, highlighting that legal freedom did not equate to full liberty.
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The fact that we have endured wrongs and hardships, which would have destroyed any other race, and have increased in numbers and public consideration, ought to strengthen our faith in ourselves and our future.
The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.
But whether it shall come late or come soon will depend mainly upon ourselves.
It is this, neither we, nor any other people, will ever be respected till we respect ourselves, and we will never respect ourselves till we have the means to live respectably.