Allow us the dignity to fight for our own freedom

A man, at times, gets something for nothing, but it will, in his hands, amount to nothing.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

I could, as a free man, look across the bay toward the Eastern Shore where I was born a slave.

Slaves were expected to sing as well as to work. A silent slave was not liked, either by masters or overseers.

Men of Color, To Arms! The case is before you. This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it, and forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies. Let us win for ourselves the gratitude of our country, and the best blessings of our posterity through all time.

To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.