During The First Years Of My Service

I Was Born A Slave; But I Never Knew It Till Six Years Of Happy Childhood Had Passed Away

When They Told Me My New-born Babe Was A Girl, My Heart Was Heavier Than It Had Ever Been Before. Slavery Is Terrible For Men; But It Is Far More Terrible For Women.

I Would Rather Drudge Out My Life On A Cotton Plantation, Till The Grave Opened To Give Me Rest, Than To Live With An Unprincipled Master And A Jealous Mistress.

I Can Testify, From My Own Experience And Observation, That Slavery Is A Curse To The Whites As Well As To The Blacks. It Makes The White Fathers Cruel And Sensual; The Sons Violent And Licentious; It Contaminates The Daughters, And Makes The Wives Wretched. And As For The Colored Race, It Needs An Abler Pen Than Mine To Describe The Extremity Of Their Sufferings, The Depth Of Their Degradation.

There Is Something Akin To Freedom In Having A Lover Who Has No Control Over You, Except That Which He Gains By Kindness And Attachment.