Frederick Douglass: “During this time, my copy-book was the board fence, brick wall, and…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1845

During this time, my copy-book was the board fence, brick wall, and pavement; my pen and ink was a lump of chalk.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

Douglass describes the unconventional materials he used to teach himself to write while enslaved.

More from Frederick Douglass

Jan 1, 1881

In any fair condition of things the men who till the soil will become proprietors of the soil.

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

The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps will disappear altogether.

Frederick Douglass: “During this time, my copy-book was the board fence, brick wall, and pavement; my pen and ink was a lump of chalk.”