Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: “We were compelled either to beg, or to steal, and we did both.”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
We were compelled either to beg, or to steal, and we did both.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

From his autobiography, Douglass describes the desperate measures enslaved people were forced to take to survive starvation.

Share

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

The vote of the colored man, formerly beaten down and stamped out by intimidation, is now revived, sought, and defended by powerful allies, and this from no transient sentiment of the moment, but from the permanent laws controlling the…

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

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

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

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

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.

gutenberg.org