Frederick Douglass

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

Frederick Douglass

I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.

Frederick Douglass

I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.

Frederick Douglass

I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my desire to be free, and set me thinking of plans to gain my freedom.

Frederick Douglass

I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity.

Frederick Douglass

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

Frederick Douglass

Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? It is neither.

Frederick Douglass

It is better to be part of a great whole than to be the whole of a small part.

Frederick Douglass

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

Frederick Douglass

It was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.

Frederick Douglass