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Quote by Frederick Douglass

“Mr. Severe's place was filled by a Mr. Hopkins. He was a very different man. He was less cruel, less profane, and made less noise, than Mr. Severe. His course was characterized by no extraordinary demonstrations of cruelty. He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer.”

Quote by Frederick Douglass

Book:A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was a renowned orator and writer, born into a slave family in Maryland, USA. He gained his freedom in the mid-19th century through self-education and became one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement. Douglass made significant contributions to the cause of equality and justice in the United States through his incisive speeches and writings, which exposed the cruelty of slavery and inspired countless people to join the abolitionist movement. more

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“When Colonel Lloyd's slaves met the slaves of Jacob Jepson, they seldom parted without a quarrel about their masters; Colonel Lloyd's slaves contending that he was the richest, and Mr. Jepson's slaves that he was the smartest, and most of a man...These quarrels would almost always end in a fight between the parties...They seemed to think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves. It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!”

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“Of my father I know even less than of my mother. I do not even know his name. I have heard reports to the effect that he was a white man who lived on one of the near-by plantations. Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.”

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“The need for the amendment was obvious. Of the nation’s four million slaves at the outset of the war, no more than five hundred thousand were now [15 June 1854] free, and, to his disgust, many white Americans intended to have them reenslaved once the war was over.”

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