Whatever of comfort is necessary to him for his body or soul that is inconsistent with his being property, is carefully wrested from him, not only by public opinion, but by the law of the country.
Douglass details how both law and society conspired to deny enslaved people any comfort or dignity that might challenge their status as property.
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The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
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.