Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: “Let him be left to feel his way in the dark; let darkness commensurate with his crime hover over him; and let him feel…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1845
Let him be left to feel his way in the dark; let darkness commensurate with his crime hover over him; and let him feel that at every step he takes, in pursuit of the flying bondman, he is running the frightful risk of having his hot brains dashed out by an invisible agency.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

In his autobiography, Douglass expresses a desire for slaveholders to experience fear and uncertainty, facing unknown dangers in their pursuit of freedom-seeking enslaved people.

Share

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

Everywhere in the south the colored man is learning to read.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

No power beneath the sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle people prosperous, or a licentious people happy.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

Still another ground of hope I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their gratitude to benefactors, and firm in their political convictions.

gutenberg.org