I was broken in body, soul and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!

— Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)

More quotes by Frederick Douglass

Speech at the Civil Rights Mass Meeting (1883)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)

The Heroic Slave (1853)

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