On the recordJanuary 1, 1855
You have kept them in utter ignorance, and have therefore robbed them of the sweet enjoyments of writing or receiving letters from absent friends and relatives.
Said by
Frederick Douglass
Source
gutenberg.orgFrederick Douglass: “You have kept them in utter ignorance, and have therefore robbed them of the sweet enjoyments of writing or receiving…”
Editor's note · Context
In his autobiography, Douglass condemns his former master for denying his family members literacy, portraying it as a cruel deprivation of human connection and enjoyment.
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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
None now denies the ability of the colored race to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to the human understanding by letters.
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.