On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
He may work him, flog him, hire him out, sell him, and, in certain contingencies, kill him, with perfect impunity.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “He may work him, flog him, hire him out, sell him, and, in certain contingencies, kill him, with perfect impunity.”
Editor's note · Context
Douglass enumerates the absolute and brutal powers legally afforded to a master over an enslaved person, including the right to inflict violence and even death.
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Jan 1, 1881
Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.
Jan 1, 1881
Father he might be, and not be husband, and could sell his own child without incurring reproach, if in its veins coursed one drop of African blood.