Carolina Quotes
But I have never seen a happy slave. I have seen him dance in his chains, it is true; but he was not happy. There is a wide difference between happiness and mirth.
Angelina Grimké Carolinian
Source
Speech to the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, May 16, 1838; from History of Pennsylvania Hall (1838)
- form
- speech
- work
- Speech at Pennsylvania Hall
- year
- 1838
Cite this record
“But I have never seen a happy slave. I have seen him dance i…” Angelina Grimké. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-4CD0403C32. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/4cd0403c32
More from Angelina Grimké
We may talk of occupying neutral ground, but on this subject, in its present attitude, there is no such thing as neutral ground. He that is not for us is against us, and he that gathereth not with us, scattereth abroad. If you are on what you suppose to be neutral ground, the South look upon you as on the side of the oppressor.
What is a mob? What would the breaking of every window be? What would the levelling of this Hall be? Any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution ? What if the mob should now burst in upon us, break up our meeting and commit violence upon our persons -- would this be any thing compared with what the slaves endure?
I remembered that I was a Carolinian, from a state which framed this iniquity by law. I knew that throughout her territory was continual suffering, on the one part, and continual brutality and sin on the other.