She knew if she went back, she must be a slave forever—she must be dragged down to the scenes of pollution which the slaveholders continually provide for most of the poor, sinking, wretched young women, whom they call their property.
In his autobiography, Douglass recounts the tragic story of an enslaved woman who chose death over returning to the sexual exploitation inherent in slavery.
Share
More from Frederick Douglass
In any fair condition of things the men who till the soil will become proprietors of the soil.
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.