What I ask for the Negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.
Frederick DouglassA man's character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.
Frederick DouglassOnce let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.
Frederick DouglassGo where you may, search where you will, roam through all of the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Frederick Douglass