the narrative of the life of frederick douglass quotes
What he most dreaded, that I most desired. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia", Douglass is one of the most prominent figures in African-American and United States history.
“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”
It was a most terrible spectacle. If I could fly! The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. “People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.” Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass taught himself to read […]
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O, that I could also go! I had at one time over forty scholars, and those of the right sort, ardently desiring to learn…I look back to those Sundays with an amount of pleasure not to be expressed. “Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work.” “When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. Goodreads helps you follow your favorite authors. “I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. They never knew when they were safe from punishment. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class- leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.” . This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.” Frederick Douglass quotes Showing 1-30 of 284 “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” “What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. There was no getting rid of it.
The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity.
“The American people have this to learn: that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.”
The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. God, deliver me!
“The silver trump of freedom roused in my soul eternal wakefulness.” Such is, very briefly, my view of the religion of this land;” “A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.” We’d love your help. The Narrative of Frederick Douglass Quotes | Explanations with Page Numbers | LitCharts.
Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy.”On Old Barney and Young Barney: “No excuse could shield them, if the colonel only suspected any want of attention to his horses—a supposition which he frequently indulged, and one which, of course, made the office of old and young Barney a very trying one. The slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.
It was heard in every sound and seen in every thing.
The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence.
“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.
As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. explains Douglass’s particular position of authority in the The quotation further provides an example of the tension