The overseer had written his character on the living parchment of most of their backs, and left them callous; my back (thanks to my early removal from the plantation to Baltimore) was yet tender.
From his autobiography, Douglass reflects on the physical scars of slavery and his relative fortune in avoiding them early on.
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More from Frederick Douglass
But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.
My grandmother was all the world to me, and the thought of being separated from her was a most unwelcome suggestion to my affections and hopes.