Frederick Douglass: “An invitation to do this is about as harsh and distasteful to all…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1881

An invitation to do this is about as harsh and distasteful to all their inclinations as would be an invitation to step down into their graves.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

From his autobiography, Douglass illustrates the profound disdain Southern planters held for manual labor.

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

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

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

Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer’s whip can keep them from voting their convictions.

Jan 1, 1881

We are no longer four millions of slaves, but six millions of freemen.

Frederick Douglass: “An invitation to do this is about as harsh and distasteful to all their inclinations as would be an invitation to step…”