quotations about slavery
Ye men of sense and virtue -- Ye advocates for American liberty, rouse up and espouse the cause of humanity and general liberty. Bear a testimony against a vice which degrades human nature, and dissolves that universal tie of benevolence which should connect all the children of men together in one great family -- The plant of liberty is of so tender a nature, that it cannot thrive long in the neighbourhood of slavery.
BENJAMIN RUSH
"On Slavekeeping", 1773
Imprisoned with the pharaohs, i notice no race predominates, but slavery's still the norm, sarcophagus, sarcophagus, sarcophagus,flesh-consumers of the great house
RUDIMENTARY PENI
"Sarcophagus"
They keep on talking, they're oh so proud
They keep us walking, they scream so loud
They own the venue, they own he crowd
Hey, yeah, slavery
RICHIE HAVENS
"Fates"
Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong
Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done
Let not our memories fail us the lost year shall be found
Let slavery's chains be broken the whole wide world around.
PETER, PAUL & MARY
"Because All Men Are Brothers"
But there's no such thing as free. There are only different and more horrible ways to be enslaved.
LAUREN DESTEFANO
Fever
Whenever a slave shall enter Hawaiian territory, he shall be free.
KAMEHAMEHA V
attributed, Day's Collacon
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
GEORGE ORWELL
Nineteen Eighty-Four
I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country. To this day, if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but suspect that some poor slave was being tortured, yet knew that I was as powerless as a child even to remonstrate. I suspected that these moans were from a tortured slave, for I was told that this was the case in another instance. Near Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept screws to crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have staid in a house where a young household mulatto, daily and hourly, was reviled, beaten, and persecuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal. I have seen a little boy, six or seven years old, struck thrice with a horse-whip (before I could interfere) on his naked head, for having handed me a glass of water not quite clean; I saw his father tremble at a mere glance from his master's eye. ... And these deeds are done and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on earth! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty.
CHARLES DARWIN
The Voyage of the Beagle
At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he stood on the threshold of freedom for which the blood of the centuries behind him had been spilled.
AYN RAND
Anthem
Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery.
AESCHYLUS
Agamemnon
Slavery is no more sinful, by the Christian code, than it is sinful to wear a whole coat, while another is in tatters, to eat a better meal than a neighbor, or otherwise to enjoy ease and plenty, while our fellow creatures are suffering and in want.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The American Democrat
Jaws of greed shine of green salivate
Force feed until gums bleed in slavery
Bottled trapped lifeless meat
Are you the leasher or the one being leashed?
HIS HERO IS GONE
"Leash"
It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Slavery is a continual and permanent violation of human rights.
DANIEL WEBSTER
letter to Rev. Mr. Furness, February 15, 1850
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.... The subjection of individuals will increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Democracy in America
In most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether slavery can ever be supposed the natural condition of man. It is impossible not to conceive that men in their original state were equal; and very difficult to imagine how one would be subjected to another but by violent compulsion. An individual may, indeed, forfeit his liberty by a crime; but he cannot by that crime forfeit the liberty of his children.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
Life of Samuel Johnson, September 23, 1777
Slave trade still exists, it's a legacy of the past
Punishment's long overdue
To fight the fears it casts
Hard-boiled criminals,
they're rotten to the core
Machinery in motion
so long as money is the law
RUNNING WILD
"Slavery"
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
PATRICK HENRY
Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775
Slavery is an infringement of two laws -- of Divine law which proclaims the equality of human nature before God, and of human law which declares an equality of political rights.
ALBERT BRISBANE
Social Destiny of Man
Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught; and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account.
LAURENCE STERNE
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy