You have no idea, sir, how difficult it is to be the victim of benevolence.

To avoid the consequences of posterity the mulattos give the blacks a first class letting alone. There is a frantic stampede white-ward to escape from Jamaica's black mass.

I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.

Grown people know that they do not always know the why of things, and even if they think they know, they do not know where and how they got the proof. Hence the irritation they show when children keep on demanding to know if a thing is so and how the grown folks got the proof of it. It is so troublesome because it is disturbing to the pigeonhole way of life.

Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.

Don't you love nobody better'n you do yo'self. Do, you'll be dying befo' yo' time is out.

Such as I am, I am a precious gift.