“The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” 
 Frederick DouglassNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” 
 Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings

“I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” 
Frederick Douglass


haggadah Section: Introduction