Frederick Douglass: “I was living among free men; and was, in all respects, equal to them by nature and by attainments.”

Another ground of hope for our race is in the progress of education.

To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.

We are no longer four millions of slaves, but six millions of freemen.

Still another ground of hope I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their gratitude to benefactors, and firm in their political convictions.