Frederick Douglass: “Blinded by its own fury, it is moved by impulses utterly unfavourable to a clear perception of facts and the ability to…”

The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.

Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.

The black man (unlike the Indian) loves civilization.

I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.