On the record
It is as impossible for the Negro to escape from his blind alley without the ballot as it is for some foolish fly, imprisoned on a window pane, to find its way to freedom through it.
Said by
Archibald Henry Grimké
Source
gutenberg.orgArchibald Henry Grimké: “It is as impossible for the Negro to escape from his blind alley without the ballot as it is for some foolish fly…”
Editor's note · Context
Grimké uses a metaphor to illustrate the critical importance of voting rights for African Americans.
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More from Archibald Henry Grimké
Then you had better let all your irons burn than neglect your duty to the slave.
It is true examples of disinterested benevolence and individual sacrifices are numerous, particularly in the Southern States; but no systematic, vigorous, and successful measures have been made to overthrow this fabric of oppression.
Is it any wonder that crime emerges out of such cruel and unequal conditions?
When he had ceased speaking I said to those around me: 'That is a providential man; he is a prophet; he will shake our nation to its center, but he will shake slavery out of it.