Political Quotes

Frederick Douglass: “He could issue no warrant on my word, against white persons; and, if I had been killed in the presence of a thousand…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
He could issue no warrant on my word, against white persons; and, if I had been killed in the presence of a thousand blacks, their testimony, combined would have been insufficient to arrest a single murderer.
Said by
Frederick Douglass

Editor's note · Context

From his autobiography, this passage describes the legal powerlessness of enslaved people and free blacks in the face of white violence.

Share

More from Frederick Douglass

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

The vote of the colored man, formerly beaten down and stamped out by intimidation, is now revived, sought, and defended by powerful allies, and this from no transient sentiment of the moment, but from the permanent laws controlling the…

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1881

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

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