“ Men do not love those who remind them of their sins unless they have a mind to repent—and the mulatto child’s face is a standing accusation against him who is master and father to the child. ”
Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). copy citation
| Author | Frederick Douglass |
|---|---|
| Source | My Bondage and My Freedom |
| Topic | accusation sin |
| Date | 1855 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/202/202-h/202-h.htm |
Context
“One might imagine, that the children of such connections, would fare better, in the hands of their masters, than other slaves. The rule is quite the other way; and a very little reflection will satisfy the reader that such is the case. A man who will enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for magnanimity. Men do not love those who remind them of their sins unless they have a mind to repent—and the mulatto child’s face is a standing accusation against him who is master and father to the child. What is still worse, perhaps, such a child is a constant offense to the wife. She hates its very presence, and when a slaveholding woman hates, she wants not means to give that hate telling effect. Women—white women, I mean—are IDOLS at the south, not WIVES, for the slave women are preferred in many instances;”
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