Synopsis My Bondage and My Freedom by : Frederick Douglass
"The marriage institution cannot exist among slaves, and one sixth of the population of democratic America is denied it's privileges by the law of the land. What is to be thought of a nation boasting of its liberty, boasting of it's humanity, boasting of its Christianity, boasting of its love of justice and purity, and yet having within its own borders three millions of persons denied by law the right of marriage?" "A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnamity." "To enslave men, successfully and safely, it is necessary to have their minds occupied with thoughts and aspirations short of the liberty of which they are deprived. A certain degree of attainable good must be kept before them." "There is not, beneath the sky, an enemy to filial affection so destructive as slavery. It had made my brothers and sisters strangers to me; it converted the mother that bore me, into a myth; it shrouded my father in mystery, and left me without an intelligible beginning in the world.""Should a slave, when assaulted, but raise his hand in self defense, the white assaulting party is fully justified by southern, or Maryland, public opinion, in shooting the slave down." But his sojourn in England was more than a joy to Mr.Douglass. Like the platform at Nantucket, it awakened him to theconsciousness of new powers that lay in him. From the pupilageof Garrisonism he rose to the dignity of a teacher and a thinker;his opinions on the broader aspects of the great Americanquestion were earnestly and incessantly sought, from variouspoints of view, and he must, perforce, bestir himself to givesuitable answer. With that prompt and truthful perception whichhas led their sisters in all ages of the world to gather at the feetand support the hands of reformers, the gentlewomen of England2were foremost to encourage and strengthen him to carve out forhimself a path fitted to his powers and energies, in the life-battleagainst slavery and caste to which he was pledged. [One of theseladies, impelled by the same noble spirit which carried MissNightingale to Scutari, has devoted her time, her untiringenergies, to a great extent her means, and her high literaryabilities, to the advancement and support of Frederick Douglass'Paper, the only organ of the downtrodden, edited and publishedby one of themselves, in the United States.] And one stirringthought, inseparable from the British idea of the evangel offreedom, must have smote his ear from every side--Hereditary bondmen! know ye notWho would be free, themselves mast strike the blow?The result of this visit was, that on his return to the UnitedStates, he established a newspaper. This proceeding was sorelyagainst the wishes and the advice of the leaders of the AmericanAnti-Slavery Society, but our author had fully grown up to theconviction of a truth which they had once promulged, but nowforgotten, to wit: that in their own elevation--self-elevation--colored men have a blow to strike "on their own hook," againstslavery and caste. Differing from his Boston friends in thismatter, diffident in his own abilities, reluctant at theirdissuadings, how beautiful is the loyalty with which he still clungto their principles in all things else, and even in this.Now came the trial hour. Without cordial support from anylarge body of men or party on this side the Atlantic, and too fardistant in space and immediate interest to expect much more,after the much already done, on the other side, he stood up,almost alone, to the arduous labor and heavy expenditure ofeditor and lecturer. The Garrison party, to which he still adhered,did not want a colored newspaper--there was an odor of casteabout it; the Liberty party could hardly be expected to give warmsupport to a man who smote their principles as with a hammer;