Frederick Douglass: “Since he is free he can now give it or withhold it, use it where he…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1881

Since he is free he can now give it or withhold it, use it where he is, or take it elsewhere as he pleases.

Said by

Frederick Douglass

Source

From his autobiography, Douglass describes the new freedom of choice Black laborers possessed over their work after emancipation.

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The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.

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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.

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It had no interest in recognizing or preserving any of the ties that bind families together or to their homes.

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It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.

Frederick Douglass: “Since he is free he can now give it or withhold it, use it where he is, or take it elsewhere as he pleases.”