Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: He was free from the individual master, but the slave of society.

On the recordJanuary 1, 1881
He was free from the individual master, but the slave of society.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

Douglass vividly describes the post-emancipation reality for Black people, who, though no longer bound to individual owners, remained subjugated by societal structures.

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