From my heart I pitied her, and—child though I was—the outrage kindled in me a feeling far from peaceful; but I was hushed, terrified, stunned, and could do nothing, and the fate of Esther might be mine next.
Witnessing the brutal whipping of his aunt Esther, Douglass recounts the profound emotional and moral impact it had on him as a child.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
Still another ground of hope I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their gratitude to benefactors, and firm in their political convictions.
The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.