"Grandmother pointed out my brother Perry, my sister Sarah, and my sister Eliza, who stood in the group. I had never seen my brother nor my sisters bef...
For my part, I should prefer death to hopeless bondage.
~ Frederick Douglass ~
Photo by Ákos Szabó
Photo by Ian Turnell
For my part, I should prefer death to hopeless bondage.
More Frederick Douglass quotes
"The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and w...
"The frequent hearing of my mistress readingthe bible--for she often read aloud when herhusband was absent--soon awakened mycuriosity in respect to thi...
"At this moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon the slave and slaveholder.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.
"Everybody has asked the question. . ."What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing w...
"A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity.
"The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slav...
"I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, parti...
"e have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen, all for the glory of God ...
"I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier of the most appalling barbar...
"I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increas...
"You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and M a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before th...
"...The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing...
"Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or sufferi...