So long as they could keep him beyond the circle of human brotherhood, they could scourge him to toil, as a beast of burden, with a good Christian conscience, and without reproach.
From his autobiography, explaining how slaveholders justified their cruelty by denying the humanity and brotherhood of enslaved people.
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The fact that we have endured wrongs and hardships, which would have destroyed any other race, and have increased in numbers and public consideration, ought to strengthen our faith in ourselves and our future.
None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.
It is this, neither we, nor any other people, will ever be respected till we respect ourselves, and we will never respect ourselves till we have the means to live respectably.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.