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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Everyone should read this book. After you read it, you will never be able to condone the use of slavery anywhere. It is amazing to read what Douglas was able to accomplish even though he began his life as a slave. Douglas was (and still is) an inspiring man.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A beautifully written autobiography with harrowing descriptions of the way that the church and Christians were not just complicit with the evils of slavery but some of the strongest implementers of violence. I wish this could be required reading for American Christians.
"The slave auctioneer's bell and the chuch-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and the robbery the allies of each other -- devils dressed in angel's robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise."
"Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For of all the slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others."
"Will not a righteous God visit for these things?... Does a righteous God govern the universe? And for what does he hold the thunders in his right hand, if not to smite the oppressor, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the spoiler?"
"The slave auctioneer's bell and the chuch-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and the robbery the allies of each other -- devils dressed in angel's robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise."
"Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For of all the slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others."
"Will not a righteous God visit for these things?... Does a righteous God govern the universe? And for what does he hold the thunders in his right hand, if not to smite the oppressor, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the spoiler?"
"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." Pure self determination.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
This is a staple to the genre of literature and the understanding of the era of American slavery. It's somewhat dense and not my favorite read, but definitely something that I was glad to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Slavery