Frederick Douglass: “The overseer never was allowed to whip Harry; why then should he be…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855

The overseer never was allowed to whip Harry; why then should he be allowed to whip Harry’s wife?

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

From his autobiography, Douglass questions the arbitrary rules of slavery that protected some enslaved men but not their wives.

More from Frederick Douglass

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In any fair condition of things the men who till the soil will become proprietors of the soil.

Jan 1, 1881

The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.

Jan 1, 1881

Everywhere in the south the colored man is learning to read.

Jan 1, 1881

They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with their enemies against their friends.

Frederick Douglass: “The overseer never was allowed to whip Harry; why then should he be allowed to whip Harry’s wife?”