“Children, who made your skin white? Was it not God? Who made mine black? Was it not the same God? Am I to blame, therefore, because my skin is black? …. Does not God love colored children as well as white children? And did not the same Savior die to save the one as well as the other?" How dare these folk rant and rave about how grand slavery is. Slavery is the reason why I have no family. I was pulled away from my mother, from my father and the only connection I have with them now is the children I have birthed. Who, may I add, have all been separated from me other than my precious little Sophiah, who I carried with me as I escaped my master. I fell in love with a slave, one who I can not marry because we are not property of the same owner. Is that not the role that you men gave us women? To marry, to cook, to clean but I cannot even marry, I cannot even see my children that I’ve created and ain't I a woman?
And you might be asking: Isabella, yes that was my original name I changed, Isabella how are you speaking right now? So clearly and fluidly? Why don’t you speak how slaves should speak? I have nobody to thank but the Lord! He is the reason why my voice speaks volumes. Not your fancy little books, but the Bible, that is the only book I know.
I have been blamed for murder! For a man I hadn't seen in over 2 weeks. That man died a peaceful death, nobody killed him. I am more than just a woman. I helped slaves become free, then helped freed slaves find jobs, and begged our black men to join the union. I am not just an abolitionist, I am a woman’s rights activist. If you believe that black men deserve more rights than black women then I simply cannot support you! Fredrick Douglass, a man with fine ideas believed that men’s suffrage was greater than a woman's. Why can’t we fight for both at the same time we’re both suffering. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
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