A man, homeless, shelterless, breadless, friendless, and moneyless, is not in a condition to assume a very proud or joyous tone; and in just this condition was I, while wandering about the streets of New York city and lodging, at least one night, among the barrels on one of its wharves.
From his autobiography, this passage vividly describes his destitute state immediately after escaping slavery in New York City.
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The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
The friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need, found himself in the strong protecting arms of his mother.
The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.
True it is that this faith was many times shaken by passing events, but never destroyed.