Frederick Douglass: “I was generally introduced as a “chattel”—a“thing”—a piece of southern…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855

I was generally introduced as a “chattel”—a“thing”—a piece of southern “property”—the chairman assuring the audience that it could speak.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

Douglass describes the dehumanizing way he was often introduced to audiences, presented as mere property capable of speech.

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

To-day the negro, starting from nothing, pays taxes upon six millions in Georgia, and forty millions in Louisiana.

Jan 1, 1881

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

Jan 1, 1881

In any fair condition of things the men who till the soil will become proprietors of the soil.

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.

Frederick Douglass: “I was generally introduced as a “chattel”—a“thing”—a piece of southern “property”—the chairman assuring the audience…”