We live in a world where people may be told how to live their own lives, but there is no greater example of this than in the case of Chattel Slavery, where practically somebody’s entire life is controlled by another. As dehumanizing and demoralizing as it may seem, people put up with this practice for thousands of years, leaving a large mark upon human history. It should puzzle us to think that we were able to get rid of it, when we may feel like human greed, selfishness and powerful systems beyond us runs the world. In this article, we explore what former slaves have to say about freedom, and I want you to think about how their words apply to the present day. Do their words tell the truth about our current reality, and how we may still be controlled by others? Do their words tell the truth about how we attain true freedom? Schools, historians and academics alike will not share these perspectives and quotes with you, especially the lesser known former slaves throughout history, but here’s what they have to say:
Different Former Slaves Unnamed (sourced from several YouTube videos and audio-tapes of slave interviews which can be found publicly available): “You can’t give me the right to be a human being, I am born with that right. Now you can keep me from having that if you got all the policemen and all the jobs on your side, you can deprive me of it, but you can’t give it to me because I was born with it just like you was.” “Now I couldn’t go from here across the street, or I couldn’t go through nobody’s house ‘out I have a note, or something from my master. And if I had that pass, that was what we call a pass, if I had that pass, I could go wherever he sent me. And I’d have to be back, you know, whoever he sent me to, they, they’d give me another pass. And I’d bring that back so as to show how long I’d been gone.”
Ellen Craft on William Craft: “He had not been urged away by abolitionists. He needed no information they could give him about slavery to stimulate his desire for freedom. He looked at his hands, and remembered that they were once in irons. What security had he that they would not be so again? Mr. Sands was kind to him; but he might indefinitely postpone the promise he had made to give him his freedom. He might come under pecuniary embarrassments, and his property be seized by creditors; or he might die, without making any arrangements in his favor. He had too often known such accidents to happen to slaves who had kind masters, and he wisely resolved to make sure of the present opportunity to own himself. He was scrupulous about taking any money from his master on false pretences; so he sold his best clothes to pay for his passage to Boston. The slaveholders pronounced him a base, ungrateful wretch, for thus requiting his master’s indulgence. What would they have done under similar circumstances?”
Booker T. Washington: “Among a large class there seemed to be a dependence upon the Government for every conceivable thing. The members of this class had little ambition to create a position for themselves, but wanted the Federal officials to create one for them. How many times I wished then, and have often wished since, that by some power of magic I might remove the great bulk of these people into the county districts and plant them upon the soil, upon the solid and never deceptive foundation of Mother Nature, where all nations and races that have ever succeeded have gotten their start, — a start that at first may be slow and toilsome, but one that nevertheless is real.” Slaves also often sought out going to other countries, such as Canada or England. “The reputation that I made as a speaker during this campaign induced a number of persons to make an earnest effort to get me to enter political life, but I refused, still believing that I could find other service which would prove of more permanent value to my race. Even then I had a strong feeling that what our people most needed was to get a foundation in education, industry, and property, and for this I felt that they could better afford to strive than for political preferment. As for my individual self, it appeared to me to be reasonably certain that I could succeed in political life, but I had a feeling that it would be a rather selfish kind of success — individual success at the cost of failing to do my duty in assisting in laying a foundation for the masses.”
William Still: “Washington, D.C., the seat of Government, where, if Slavery was not seen in its worst aspects, the Government in its support of Slavery appeared in a most revolting light.” In a letter to William, from N.R. Johnston, he states “I only add that every case of this kind only tends to make me abhor my (no!) this country more and more. It is the Devil's Government, and God will destroy it.”
Henry Bibb: “The state of Georgia, by an act of 1770, declared ‘that it shall not be lawful for any number of free negroes, molattoes or mestinos, or even slaves in company with white persons, to meet together for the purpose of mental instruction, either before the rising of the sun or after the going down of the same.’ Similar laws exist in most of the slave States, and patrols are sent out after night and on the Sabbath day to enforce them. They go through their respective towns to prevent slaves from meeting for religious worship or mental instruction. This is the regulation and law of American Slavery, as sanctioned by the Government of the United States, and without which it could not exist. And almost the whole moral, political, and religious power of the nation are in favor of slavery and aggression, and against liberty and justice. I only judge by their actions, which speak louder than words. Slaveholders are put into the highest offices in the gift of the people in both Church and State, thereby making slaveholding popular and reputable... The laws of Kentucky, my native State, with Maryland and Virginia, which are said to be the mildest slave States in the Union, noted for their humanity, Christianity and democracy, declare that ‘Any slave, for rambling in the night, or riding horseback without leave, or running away, may be punished by whipping, cropping and branding in the cheek, or otherwise, not rendering him unfit for labor.’ ‘Any slave convicted of petty larceny, murder, or wilfully burning of dwelling houses, may be sentenced to have his right hand cut off; to be hanged in the usual manner, or the head severed from the body, the body divided into four quarters, and head and quarters stuck up in the most public place in the county, where such act was committed.’” Bibb, among other former slaves would recount in detail how dreadful “slave prison” was, in only further degrading their character, giving an excuse so as to their slave condition.
Epictetus: “Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.” “A free man is only master of what he can master without impediment. And the only thing we are entirely free to master without impediment is ourselves. Therefore, if you see a person wishing to control not himself but others, you know that he is not free: he has become a slave of his desire to dominate people.” “No man is free who is not master of himself” “Freedom is the name of virtue: Slavery, of vice. None is a slave whose acts are free.” “He is free who lives as he wishes to live; who is neither subject to compulsion nor to hindrance, nor to force; whose movements are not impeded, and whose desires attain their purpose.”
Patsy Mitchner: “Slavery was a bad thing, and freedom, of the kind we got, with nothing to live on, was bad. Two snakes full of poison. One lying with his head pointing north, the other with his head pointing south. Their names was slavery and freedom.”
Sojourner Truth: “Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.” “I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail.”
Of course considering the many former slaves, we know reading and writing may have been hard to come across. Most historians and those who study history may be familiar with Frederick Douglass, but for his quotes, which certainly are profound exposing the nature of Taxation among Natural Law and other ideas, refer to our article and video-article on how we end tyranny for good, featuring a compilation of his quotes. We can now end slavery... in total!
Find the article here: https://www.theliberator.us/post/former-slave-details-how-we-end-tyranny-for-good
An entire summary on the nature of slavery with psychological insights, can also be found here: https://healthrevealed.org/slavery