Quotations by Author

Frederick Douglass

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, the grossest of all libels. I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes-- ...I hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen, all for the glory of God and the good of souls. The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave trade go hand in hand.