That the various abolition societies and anti-slavery movements did heroic work in rousing the national conscience is certainly true; unfortunately, however, these movements were weakest at the most critical times.
This quote acknowledges the important role of abolition societies while also critiquing their effectiveness during crucial moments in history.
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After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness…
Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,—a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a…
Fully ninety-four per cent have struggled for land and failed, and half of them sit in hopeless serfdom.
Away with the black man’s ballot, by force or fraud,—and behold the suicide of a race!