On the recordJanuary 1, 1845
It would astonish one, unaccustomed to a slaveholding life, to see with what wonderful ease a slaveholder can find things, of which to make occasion to whip a slave.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “It would astonish one, unaccustomed to a slaveholding life, to see with what wonderful ease a slaveholder can find…”
Editor's note · Context
In his autobiography, Douglass comments on the arbitrary nature of punishment and the ease with which slaveholders found reasons to inflict violence.
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Jan 1, 1881
We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.
Jan 1, 1881
It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.
Jan 1, 1881
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.