“Gone is the bright blue sky of America—now I’m under the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and the slave becomes a man. No one questions my humanity or offers insult. I ride in a cab beside white people, enter the same hotel door, sit in the same parlor, dine at the same table—and no one is offended. At every turn, I’m treated with the same kindness and respect shown to white people.”

Douglas, a former slave, felt more dignity in Ireland than he did in his own homeland.

by firefly99999

14 comments

  1. A statue of him was unveiled in Belfast in 2023

  2. He admired daniel o’connell greatly and it was Ireland that inspired him to expand his campaign for freedom for all the oppressed not just focus on slavery

  3. A message that some people in this country would do well to take note of these days.

  4. His biography is a very good read and one of the United State’s greatest writers and humanitarians. Many Americans don’t realize he made a comparative analysis of the Southern Slave to the colonized Irish.

    As an American (sorry), it’s amazing to think that my ancestors could have had the opportunity to hear him speak in Cork City before emigrating.

  5. I can’t recommend Douglass’s autobiographies and political writings enough; his account of his life and his family’s life in slavery, his self-education, his escape, and his life as a public figure is just absolutely incredible. He has these heartbreaking passages where he talks about watching the ships going in Baltimore harbor as a child and speaking to Irish sailors in port but being afraid to say too much. 

  6. An don forget da Indians gabe us money and we’re great n all.

  7. He’s such an interesting historical figure in general on top of pretty much being the “father of the civil rights movement”.

    With Ireland, I loved reading that both him and Daniel O’Connell admired each other from a distance and eventually met only one at an O’Connell monster meeting where he gave a speech.

    On a side note, it’s also interesting how he does take some subtle digs at the (not his words exactly) “drunk and loose Catholics” he encounters out in the country… showing the seeping bias of his Presbyterian upbringing.

    He had such a fascinating life. I wrote a [very meandering story](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-and-chips/id1781231003?i=1000684962943) about him and Dublin/Glasgow when I found out he lived for weeks in a tenement flat above Glasgow’s oldest chippy where I went often as a child.

  8. A lot of this still applies today. The most obnoxious Irish person is less irritating to an American POC than the average American liberal who claims to be “colour blind”. Problem is the nation has never really confronted it’s foundation in colonialism. 

  9. *Sworn to be free, no more our ancient sireland*

    *Shall shelter the despot or the slave*

  10. Wonderful but they always have to mention the shyte weather 😂🙈

  11. He was treated with respect and dignity because the people of this country have been through similar circumstances, we were on the poster too. “no blacks, no Irish, no dogs”

  14. Any particular adaptations or good retellings of his story?

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