CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION “My part has been to tell the story of the slave. The story of the master has never wanted for narrators. The masters, to tell their story, had at call all the talent and genius that wealth and influence could command. They had their full day in court. Literature , theology, philosophy, law and learning have come willingly to their service, and, if condemned, they have not been condemned unheard. “It will be seen in these pages that I have lived several lives in one: first, the life of slavery; secondly, the life of a fugitive; thirdly, the life of comparative freedom ; fourthly, the life of conflict and battle; and, fifthly, the life of victory, if not complete, at least assured. To those who have suffered in slavery I can say, I, too, have suffered. To those who have taken some risks and encountered hardships in the flight from bondage I can say I , too, have endured and risked. To those who have battled for liberty, brotherhood , and citizenship, I can say that I , too, have battled. And to those who have lived to enjoy the fruits of victory I can say I, too, live and rejoice. If I have pushed my example too prominently for the good tastes of my Caucasian readers, I beg them to remember that I have written in part for the encouragement of a class whose aspirations need the stimulus of success . “I have aimed to assure them that knowledge can be obtained under difficult circumstances; that poverty may give place to competency; that obscurity is not an absolute bar to distinction, and that a way is open to welfare and happiness to all who will resolutely pursue that way; that neither slavery, stripes, imprisonment nor proscription need extinguish self-respect, crush manly ambition, or paralyze effort; that no power outside of himself can prevent a man from sustaining an honorable character and a useful relation to his day and generation; that neither institutions nor friends can make a race to stand unless it has strength in its own legs; that there is no power in the world which can be relied upon to help the weak against the strong or the simple against the wise; that races like individuals, must stand or fall by their own merits; that all the prayers of Christendom cannot stop the force of a single bullet, divest arsenic of poisoning or suspend any law of nature. In my communication with the colored people I have endeavored to deliver them from the power of superstition, bigotry, and priest-craft . In theology I have found them strutting about in the old clothes of the masters, just as the masters strut about in the old clothes of the past. The falling power remains among them long since it has ceased to be the religious fashion in our refined and elegant white churches. I have taught that the ‘fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves , that we are underlings,’ that ‘who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.’ I have urged upon them self-reliance, self-respect, industry , perseverance, and economy, to make the most of both worlds, but to make the best of this world first because it comes first, and that he who does not improve himself by the motives and opportunities afforded by this world gives the greatest evidence that he would not improve in any other world. Schooled as I have been by the abolitionists of New England, I recognize that the universe is governed by laws which are unchangeable and eternal , that what men sow they will reap, and that there is no way to dodge or circumvent the consequences of any act or deed. My views at this point receive but limited endorsement among my people. They, for the most part, think that they have means of procuring special favor and help from the Almighty; and that their ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen,’ they find much in this expression which is true to faith, but utterly false to fact. But I meant here only to say a word in conclusion. Forty years of my life have been given to the cause of my people, and if I had forty years more they should all be sacredly given to the same great cause. If I have done something for that cause, I am, after all, more a debtor to it than it is to me. “ P. 913-914, LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1881, 1994).