Frederick Douglass Quotes


So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lightning scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.


Citations

Frederick Douglasss, ~1817-1895, Abolitionist & Editor, Recorder of Deeds, District of Columbia, U. S. Minister to Haiti, Speech, Market Hall, New York City, October. 22, 1847

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
  • Born: February 14, 1817
  • Died: February 20, 1895
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Abolitionist, Suffragist, Author, Editor, Diplomat

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.