I was not satisfied, yet I left in the full belief that the true course to the black man’s freedom and citizenship was over the battle-field, and that my business was to get every black man I could into the Union armies.
Reflecting on his efforts to advocate for black soldiers during the Civil War, Douglass articulates his belief in military service as the path to freedom and citizenship.
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But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.
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.