I may mention here an incident somewhat amusing and instructive, as it serves to illustrate how easily Americans could set aside their notoriously inveterate prejudice against color, when it stood in the way of their wishes, or when in an atmosphere which made that prejudice unpopular and unchristian.
Douglass introduces an anecdote to illustrate how Americans could conveniently abandon their racial prejudice when it was socially or personally inconvenient.
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It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.
Father he might be, and not be husband, and could sell his own child without incurring reproach, if in its veins coursed one drop of African blood.
The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.