Frederick Douglass

Could they know slavery as I knew it, they would hasten to the work of its extinction.

All that the American people needed, I thought, was light.

I had the honor to be chosen one of the agents to assist in these proposed conventions, and I never entered upon any work with more heart and hope.

This argument was certainly good enough as against the church, but good for nothing as against the demands of justice and equality.

Regarding this as the fruit of slaveholding prejudice, and being determined to fight the spirit of slavery wherever I might find it, I resolved to avoid this car, though it sometimes required some courage to do so.

When people found that I would be heard, they saw it was the part of wisdom to open the way for me.

The abolitionists had passed the Red Sea of mobs, and had conquered the right to a respectful hearing.

True men they were, who could accept welcome at no man’s table where I was refused.

There is something in the world above fixed rules and the logic of right and wrong, and there is some foundation for recognizing works, which may be called works of supererogation.

I confess, however, that while I was entirely honest in urging them to go, and saw no principle that should bind them to stay and suffer with me, I always felt a little nearer to those who did not take my advice and persisted in sharing my…

No colored man was allowed abaft the wheel, and in all seasons of the year, in heat or cold, wet or dry, the deck was his only place.

I was several times dragged from the cars for the crime of being colored.