Men Are Whipped Oftenest Who

From My Earliest Recollection, I Date The Entertainment Of A Deep Conviction That Slavery Would Not Always Be Able To Hold Me Within Its Foul Embrace; And In The Darkest Hours Of My Career In Slavery, This Living Word Of Faith And Spirit Of Hope Departed Not From Me, But Remained Like Ministering Angels To Cheer Me Through The Gloom. This Good Spirit Was From God, And To Him I Offer Thanksgiving And Praise.

For It Is Not Light That Is Needed, But Fire; It Is Not The Gentle Shower, But Thunder. We Need The Storm, The Whirlwind, And The Earthquake. The Feeling In The Nation Must Be Quickened, The Conscience Of The Nation Must Be Roused, The Propriety Of The Nation Must Be Startled, The Hypocrisy Of The Nation Must Be Exposed: And Its Crimes Against God And Man Must Be Denounced.

Slaves Sing Most When They Are Most Unhappy. The Songs Of The Slave Represent The Sorrows Of His Heart; And He Is Relieved By Them, Only As An Aching Heart Is Relieved By Its Tears.

Intelligence Is A Great Leveler Here As Elsewhere

I Have Often Sung To Drown My Sorrow, But Seldom To Express My Happiness. Crying For Joy, And Singing For Joy, Were Alike Uncommon To Me While In The Jaws Of Slavery. The Singing Of A Man Cast Away Upon A Desolate Island Might Be As Appropriately Considered As Evidence Of Contentment And Happiness, As The Singing Of A Slave; The Songs Of The One And Of The Other Are Prompted By The Same Emotion.