Summoned away to her account, with the impassable gulf of slavery between us during her entire illness, my mother died without leaving me a single intimation of who my father was.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on the tragic circumstances of his mother's death and the mystery of his parentage due to slavery.
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Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.
His iron sentences, cold and harsh, sunk like heavy weights deep into my heart, and stirred up within me a rebellion not soon to be allayed.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.