Frederick Douglass

My acquaintance with the movement increased my hope for the ultimate freedom of my race, and I united with it from a sense of delight, as well as duty.

Those ministers who defended slavery from the bible, were of their “father the devil”; and those churches which fellowshiped slaveholders as Christians, were synagogues of Satan, and our nation was a nation of liars.

Of all men beneath the sky, the slaves, because most neglected and despised, were nearest and dearest to his great heart.

His words were few, full of holy fire, and straight to the point.

He seemed a match for all the oponents(sic) of emancipation, whether they spoke in the name of the law, or the gospel.

I not only liked—I loved this paper, and its editor.

It detested slavery exposed hypocrisy and wickedness in high places—made no truce with the traffickers in the bodies and souls of men; it preached human brotherhood, denounced oppression, and, with all the solemnity of God’s word, demanded…

The Liberator was a paper after my own heart.

Many seasons of peace and joy I experienced among them, the remembrance of which is still precious, although I could not see it to be my duty to remain with that body, when I found that it consented to the same spirit which held my…

I found it impossible to respect the religious profession of any who were under the dominion of this wicked prejudice, and I could not, therefore, feel that in joining them, I was joining a Christian church, at all.

Surely,” thought I, “these Christian people have none of this feeling against color.

Once converted, I thought they would be sure to treat me as a man and a brother.