Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?

A people thus handicapped ought not to be asked to race with the world, but rather allowed to give all its time and thought to its own social problems.

"Deywuzasighterniggersindenaherhooderdevimya'd.DerewuzoleMarsHenryBrayboy'sniggers,enoleMarsDunkinMcLean'sniggers,enMarsDugal'sownniggers;dendeywuzasettlementerfreeniggersenpo'buckrahsdownbydeWim'l'tonRoad,enMarsDugal'haddeonlyvimya'dindenaberhood.Ireckonitin'somuchsonowadays,butbofe'dewah,inslah'rytimes,erniggerdidn'minegoin'fi'ertenmileinanight,w’endeywassuntp'ngoodtereatatdeyuthereen.

W'endowahbrokeout,MarsDugal'raise'acomp'ny,enwentoffterfightdeYankees.Hesayhewuzmightygladdatwahcome,enhedeswantterkillaYankeefereve'ydollarhelos''long ordatgrape-raisin'Yankee.EnI'spec'hewouldadoneit,too,efdeYankeeshadn's'picionedsump'n,enkilledhimfus'.Atterdes'renderolemissmove'tertown,deniggersallscattered'wayfumdeplantation,endevimya'dain’be'ncultervatedsence.

It was a long, gory campaign; the blood chills and the heart almost loses faith in Christianity when one thinks of Yazoo, Hamburg, Edgefield, Copiah, and the countless massacres of defenseless Negroes, whose only crime was the attempt to exercise their right to vote.

of the first forty-three of the collection most were sung upon a single plantation, and that it is very certain that the stores of this plantation were by no means exhausted. Of course there was constant intercourse between neighboring plantations; also between different States, by the sale of slaves from one to another. But it is surprising how little this seems to have affected local songs, which are different even upon adjoining plantations. The favorite of them all, "Roll, Jordan" (No. 1), is sung in Florida, but not, I believe, in North Carolina. "Gabriel's Trumpet" (No. 4) and "Wrestle on, Jacob" (No 6) probably came from Virginia, where they are sung without much variation from the form usual at Port Royal; No. 6 is also sung in Maryland.*

looked at him in astonishment, and earnestly replied: "No, master, I do not wish to be free in such a manner. If such had been my wish, I should never have troubled you about obtaining your consent to my purchasing myself. I can Page 49 cross the river any day, as you well know, and have frequently done so, but will never leave you in such a manner. By the laws of the land I am your slave--you are my master, and I will only be free by such means as the laws of the country provide." He expected this answer, and I knew that he was pleased. Some time afterwards he told me that he had reconsidered the question; that I had served his family faithfully; that I deserved my freedom, and that he would take $1200 for myself and boy.

It cut the skin, raised great welts, and the warm blood trickled down my back. Oh God! I can feel the torture now--the terrible, excruciating agony of those moments. I did not scream; I was too proud to let my tormentor know what I was suffering. I closed my lips firmly, that not even a groan might escape from them, and I stood like a statue while the keen lash cut deep into my flesh.

It is easy to find out, on that day, who clothes and feeds his slaves well; for he is surrounded by a crowd, begging, "Please, massa, hire me this year. I will work very hard, massa."

After a brief period of suspense, the will of my mistress was read, and we learned that she had bequeathed me to her sister's daughter, a child of five years old.

“Arm of the Lord, awake! Renew my faith, confirm my hope, perfect me inlove. Give strength, give courage, guide and protect my pathway, and directme in my course!” Springing to his feet as if a weight had fallen from him, hestood up a new man.

“You have too much religion, mammy, for me to tell you what I intenddoing,” said Henry in conclusion.

“I make no profession, mammy. I once did believe in religion, but now Ihave no confidence in it. My faith has been wrecked on the stony hearts ofsuch pretended Christians as Stephen Franks, while passing through thestormy sea of trouble and oppression! And——”

and whipped her nearly to death; yet he was a deacon in the Baptist church, in good and regular standing.

MY master had family worship, night and morning. At night the slaves were called in to attend; but in the mornings they had to be at their work, and master did all the praying.

I have said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture--"He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."

a Mr. Wilson, who proposed to keep a Sabbath school for the instruction of such slaves as might be disposed to learn to read the New Testament. We met but three times, when Mr. West and Mr. Fairbanks, both class-leaders, with many others, came upon us with sticks and other missiles, drove us off, and forbade us to meet again.

I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community.

He was setting a dangerous example to the other slaves,--one which, if suffered to pass without some such demonstration on his part, would finally lead to the total subversion of all rule and order upon the plantation.

hey can seldom do any thing to please her; she is never better pleased than when she sees them under the lash, especially when she suspects her husband of showing to his mulatto children favors which he withholds from his black slaves.

Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.

\\'hich drcncht.·d this land tor sen~n lo~g) ears \,\.ith blood of men. and \\omen's tears~ \\'hen black and white fou~ht side by s1<.l

America

You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much,-for we can't take more than our pint'll hold.

I have heard the bible and have_ learned that Eve caused man to sin.

Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties. Now is the day and the hour. Let every slave throughout the land do this, and the days of slavery are numbered. You cannot be more op-pressed than you have been—you cannot suffer greater cruelties than you have already. Rather die freemen than live to be slaves. Re-member that you are four millions!

The first dealings they had with men calling themselves Christians, exhibited to them the worst features of corrupt. and sordid hearts: and convinced them that no cruelty is too great, no villainy and no robbery too abhorrent for even enlight-ened men to perform, when influenced by avarice and lust.

I know it to be a fact, that some of them take the Egyptians to have been a gang of devils, not knowing any better, and that they (Egyptians) having got possession of the Lord's people, treated them nearly as cruel as Christian Page 10 Americans do us, at the present day.

My beloved brethren:--The Indians of North and of South America--the Greeks--the Irish, subjected under the king of Great Britain--the Jews, that ancient people of the Lord--the inhabitants of the islands of the sea--in fine, all the inhabitants of the earth, (except however, the sons of Africa) are called men, and of course are, and ought to be free.

He reckoned that Georges, despite ~IS generosity, was an accomplice of the murderers. Such is the tyrant: he believes all other men incapable of elevated sentiments or selfless dedication, for they must be small-minded, perfidious souls .... Their souls are but uncultivated ground, where nothing grows but thorns and weeds.

Don't worry, master, they'll have to walk o~er my ho Y e ore t ey get to you,' said the slave with a calm and resigned air.

A crucial point here, however, is that books need not have been the only means of transmitting these texts; oral performance and composi-tion, manuscript copying and exchange, and printed broadsides all were common currency in the revival meetings of the early nineteenth cen-tury.

This landmark hymnal is of historic importance for reasons other than its primacy among black-church hymnals, which in itself is enough to insure the hymnnbook a secure place in hi

Predictably, other black denominations followed the lead of the AME Church in publishing their o

but the emotions of her mind were more active than ever; she saw with the mind's eye the great services which might be rendered to her country; she brought to her imaginationthe once delightful fields of her native Hayti, now dy'd with the blood of her countrymen in their righteous struggle for liberty and for independence.

But though protected by the mantle of night, Madame was hastening on her way to safety and quiet; she frequently would turn her eyes bathed with the dew of sorrow, and heave her farewell sigh towards her ill-fated village; and like [ ] when departing out of Sodom, Paulina prayed for mercy for theenemies of her country, and the destroyers of her peace.

Improve your privileges while they stay,

'Twas not long since I left my native shore The land of errors, and Egyptain gloom: 5: Father of mercy, 'twas thy gracious hand Brought me in safety from those dark abodes.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic die."

TWAS mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither fought now knew, 5: Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic die." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

Simeon Amsden they found dead, Not many rods distant from his head.

The Indians did in ambush lay, Some very valiant men to slay

At the close of that year I was sold to a Thomas Stanton, and had to be separated from my wife and one daughter, who was about one month old.

that his nation had made no preparation for war, having been for a long time in profound peace that they could not defend themselves against such a formidable train of invaders, and must therefore necessarily evacuate their lands to the fierce enemy, and fly to the protection of some chief;

 The reader is here presented with an account, not of a renowned politician or warrior, but of an untutored African slave, brought into this Christian country at eight years of age, wholly destitute of all education but what he received in common with other domesticated animals, enjoying no advantages that could lead him to suppose himself superior to the beasts, his fellow servants.

The languages of different nations did not totally differ, nor were they so copious as those of the Europeans, particularly the English. They were therefore easily learned; and, while I was journeying thus through Africa, I acquired two or three different tongues.

I HOPE the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing myself to him with some account of the manners and customs of my country. They had been implanted Page 46 in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow.

it is hoped may tend also to remove the prejudice that some conceive against the natives of Africa on account of their colour. Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with their complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on certainly his own image, because "carved in ebony." Might it not naturally be ascribed to their situation? When they come among Europeans, they are ignorant of their Page 43 language, religion, manners, and customs. Are any pains taken to teach them these? Are they treated as men? Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its fire and every noble sentiment?

AsIwasgoingon,andmusinguponthegoodnessoftheLord,