re: Good article on Frederick Douglass, by a Washington and Lee U. professor

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He lived through SLAVERY. He WAS a slave for awhile.

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Yes, thanks for the history lesson. The point I was making is that these remarks were made 1866ish (i.e. in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War - it makes reference to "30 years before Plessy"). At that point in time, Douglass would have had reason to be optimistic that the US was finally going to let "The Negro stand or fall on his own 2 legs". A war had just been fought which had the effect of abolishing slavery. Reconstruction was in its nascent stage. The 13th Amendment had been ratified and the 14th was in the near future.

This article essentially takes Douglass out of context. My point is that the quoted remarks were made PRIOR to 100 years of Jim Crow horror - which would have potentially dashed Douglass' hopes in this regard. (He did in fact live to see the destruction of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow.) He also, in fact, lived to see the "positive evil" of "race pride" in ways that were extremely offensive to him and all blacks. That evil race pride carried on for 100+ years...by WHITE AMERICANS.

To try to repurpose his remarks for some modern commentary is disingenuous at best.

If we want to feel all warm and fuzzy about FD quotes, then this is among my favorites:

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A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box.

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