Accordingly, the tenderest affection which a beneficent Father allows, as a partial compensation to the mother for the pains and lacerations of her heart, incident to the maternal relation, was, in my case, diverted from its true and natural object, by the envious, greedy, and treacherous hand of slavery.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on how slavery severed the natural bond between a mother and child.
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The hardships and dangers involved in the struggle give strength and toughness to the character, and enable it to stand firm in storm as well as in sunshine.
A poverty-stricken class will be an ignorant and despised class, and no amount of sentiment can make it otherwise.
An exceptionally poor and dependent people will be despised by the opulent and despise themselves.
The old slave quarter that had before sheltered them, and the fields that had yielded them corn, were now denied them.