side of the Atlantic, be considered as a crime, for a poor African not
to confess himself a being of an inferior order to those, who happen to
be of a different colour from himself; or be thought very presumptuous,
in one who is but a negro, to offer to the happy subjects of this free
government, some reflections upon the wretched condition of his
countrymen. They will not, I trust, think worse of my brethren, for
being discontented with so hard a lot as that of slavery; nor disown me
for their fellow-creature, merely because I deeply feel the unmerited
sufferings which my countrymen endure.

It is neither the vanity of being an author, nor a sudden and capricious
gust of humanity, which has prompted this present design. It has long been
conceived and long been the principal subject of my thoughts. Ever since an
indulgent master rewarded my youthful services with freedom and supplied me
at a very early age with the means of acquiring knowledge, I have laboured
to understand the true principles, on which the liberties of mankind are
founded, and to possess myself of the language of this country, in order to
plead the cause of those who were once my fellow slaves, and if possible to
make my freedom, in some degree, the instrument of their deliverance.

The first thing then, which seems necessary, in order to remove those
prejudices, which are so unjustly entertained against us, is to prove
that we are men--a truth which is difficult of proof, only because it is
difficult to imagine, by what argument it can be combatted. Can it be
contended that a difference of colour alone can constitute a difference of
species?--if not in what single circumstance are we different from the rest
of mankind? what variety is there in our organization? what inferiority
of art in the fashoning of our bodies? what imperfection in the faculties
of our minds?--Has not a negro eyes? has not a negro hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions?--fed with the same food; hurt