"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Those of you who have been here during yesterday and today will bear witness that the several speakers have hesitated not to declare the truth as it regards the iniquity of slavery. It can scarcely be expected, however, that those of us who understand the workings of slavery in the Southern States will bring before you the wrongs of the slave as we could wish. Language will not allow us; and if we had the language, the fastidiousness of the people would not permit our portraying them. Slavery has justly been termed the crime of crimes. Man cannot inflict upon his fellow-man a greater crime than to enslave him, for by so doing he not only injures his fellow-man, but himself. It is not possible for one part of mankind to enslave another portion without injuring themselves. That may be seen in the workings of slavery in this country....
"You have, no doubt, all of you, read of the riot that occurred, some three months since, among the students of Columbia College, South Carolina, in which the students drove the police back to their stations, and at length, demanded the chief of the police , that they might sacrifice him to their ferocity; and when the mayor had called out the militia, they could do nothing, and the chief of the police was murdered, with two other policemen. That was a legitimate fruit of slavery. The young white boy is brought up with these ferocious passions. He has been accustomed to kick and drive the black slave about; and when he meets with white persons, he considers them his inferiors, and his passions break forth on the slightest provocation. Northern men complain that they send men to Congress and they exhibit no backbone --that they don't face the music in the halls of Congress. To send your Northern men to Congress , there to meet the bully, the duelist, the woman scourger, the gambler, the murderer, is like taking your little son from the country and sending him to the city , where he finds a thousand rude boys who insult and abuse him. Men in the South who are accustomed to flog old men and young women, and to sell children from the mother's breast, are more than a match for your Northern man when it comes to bullying and threats. To talk about a good slaveholder is a contradiction . A good slaveholder is a bad man, a Christian slaveholder an infidel, a just slaveholder a thief, for to rob a man of himself is the greatest theft that a human being can commit....
"I saw in a newspaper published in my town , St. Louis--for I happen to have come from among the 'border ruffians '--an editorial announcement that a man who owned a slave there, a short time since, had caused that slave to be branded upon the right cheek with the words 'slave for life,' and the editor spends a great deal of invective and indignation upon this owner of the slave, saying that the slave was a good servant and had committed no offense to merit such treatment. The crime of this victim was his being born with a white skin, for the editor tells us that he had straight hair and would pass for a white man. Being white, it was easy for him to escape, and hence the necessity of branding these words on his cheek, so as to to prevent his running away. Perhaps , too, he had too much Anglo -Saxon blood in him to be a submissive slave, as Theodore Parker would say....
"Not long since, a colored man, of great wealth, came to visit a merchant in one of our eastern cities, who, by a business connection with the colored man, had acquired a considerable fortune. The merchant knew he must treat him kindly, and so he invited him to his house, and on Sunday he asked him to go to his church. It was one of the fine churches where a colored face is never seen inside, except, perhaps, to do some menial work. The pew was near the pulpit. When the merchant, with his black friend , entered the pew, the congregation stared. There was no mistake about its being a black man. The minister entered the pulpit and commenced the services. He didn't discover the black man until he got into the midst of his sermon. It disconcerted him, and he could not go on. He lost his place in the sermon, hesitated, and at length had to slip secondly, and go to thirdly . He made a botch of it and concluded. As soon as service was over, a neighbor of the merchant came to him, and asked him what he meant by bringing a nigger into the church. 'Why it is my pew,' said the merchant. 'Is there any reason why you should insult the whole congregation?' said the man. 'Yes, but he is an educated man,' the merchant replied. 'What of that?' said the man, 'he is black.' 'But , sir, he is a correspondent of mine, and is worth a million dollars.' Worth what!' 'A million of dollars.' 'I beg pardon, introduce me to him.'...
"I speak not for the purpose of making any display of eloquence or rhetoric. Whenever I come before a cultivated audience like this, I remember that I was nineteen years a slave, and never had a day's schooling in my life, and yet it is a duty I owe to my enslaved countrymen, to those who are bound to me by tenderest ties, to my God and to my country, to labor in the cause of humanity and remember those in bonds as bound with them. And if I can be the means of helping to remove a single object out of the way of the Antislavery cause, I shall feel well paid."
P. 910-916, "Speech at Anniversary of the New York Antislavery Society, May 8, 1856," WILLIAM WELLS BROWN: CLOTEL AND OTHER WRITINGS (2014)
"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Those of you who have been here during yesterday and today will bear witness that the several speakers have hesitated not to declare the truth as it regards the iniquity of slavery. It can scarcely be expected, however, that those of us who understand the workings of slavery in the Southern States will bring before you the wrongs of the slave as we could wish. Language will not allow us; and if we had the language, the fastidiousness of the people would not permit our portraying them. Slavery has justly been termed the crime of crimes. Man cannot inflict upon his fellow-man a greater crime than to enslave him, for by so doing he not only injures his fellow-man, but himself. It is not possible for one part of mankind to enslave another portion without injuring themselves. That may be seen in the workings of slavery in this country....
"You have, no doubt, all of you, read of the riot that occurred, some three months since, among the students of Columbia College, South Carolina, in which the students drove the police back to their stations, and at length, demanded the chief of the police , that they might sacrifice him to their ferocity; and when the mayor had called out the militia, they could do nothing, and the chief of the police was murdered, with two other policemen. That was a legitimate fruit of slavery. The young white boy is brought up with these ferocious passions. He has been accustomed to kick and drive the black slave about; and when he meets with white persons, he considers them his inferiors, and his passions break forth on the slightest provocation. Northern men complain that they send men to Congress and they exhibit no backbone --that they don't face the music in the halls of Congress. To send your Northern men to Congress , there to meet the bully, the duelist, the woman scourger, the gambler, the murderer, is like taking your little son from the country and sending him to the city , where he finds a thousand rude boys who insult and abuse him. Men in the South who are accustomed to flog old men and young women, and to sell children from the mother's breast, are more than a match for your Northern man when it comes to bullying and threats. To talk about a good slaveholder is a contradiction . A good slaveholder is a bad man, a Christian slaveholder an infidel, a just slaveholder a thief, for to rob a man of himself is the greatest theft that a human being can commit....
"I saw in a newspaper published in my town , St. Louis--for I happen to have come from among the 'border ruffians '--an editorial announcement that a man who owned a slave there, a short time since, had caused that slave to be branded upon the right cheek with the words 'slave for life,' and the editor spends a great deal of invective and indignation upon this owner of the slave, saying that the slave was a good servant and had committed no offense to merit such treatment. The crime of this victim was his being born with a white skin, for the editor tells us that he had straight hair and would pass for a white man. Being white, it was easy for him to escape, and hence the necessity of branding these words on his cheek, so as to to prevent his running away. Perhaps , too, he had too much Anglo -Saxon blood in him to be a submissive slave, as Theodore Parker would say....
"Not long since, a colored man, of great wealth, came to visit a merchant in one of our eastern cities, who, by a business connection with the colored man, had acquired a considerable fortune. The merchant knew he must treat him kindly, and so he invited him to his house, and on Sunday he asked him to go to his church. It was one of the fine churches where a colored face is never seen inside, except, perhaps, to do some menial work. The pew was near the pulpit. When the merchant, with his black friend , entered the pew, the congregation stared. There was no mistake about its being a black man. The minister entered the pulpit and commenced the services. He didn't discover the black man until he got into the midst of his sermon. It disconcerted him, and he could not go on. He lost his place in the sermon, hesitated, and at length had to slip secondly, and go to thirdly . He made a botch of it and concluded. As soon as service was over, a neighbor of the merchant came to him, and asked him what he meant by bringing a nigger into the church. 'Why it is my pew,' said the merchant. 'Is there any reason why you should insult the whole congregation?' said the man. 'Yes, but he is an educated man,' the merchant replied. 'What of that?' said the man, 'he is black.' 'But , sir, he is a correspondent of mine, and is worth a million dollars.' Worth what!' 'A million of dollars.' 'I beg pardon, introduce me to him.'...
"I speak not for the purpose of making any display of eloquence or rhetoric. Whenever I come before a cultivated audience like this, I remember that I was nineteen years a slave, and never had a day's schooling in my life, and yet it is a duty I owe to my enslaved countrymen, to those who are bound to me by tenderest ties, to my God and to my country, to labor in the cause of humanity and remember those in bonds as bound with them. And if I can be the means of helping to remove a single object out of the way of the Antislavery cause, I shall feel well paid."
P. 910-916, "Speech at Anniversary of the New York Antislavery Society, May 8, 1856," WILLIAM WELLS BROWN: CLOTEL AND OTHER WRITINGS (2014)
