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Often appears with: marriage and betrothal · custom and the manners of a people · justice as a virtue · rank, class, and social order · fate, destiny, and necessity · religious persecution and toleration · slavery and bondage · myth and the gods of the nations · the position of women · forms of government · language, naming, and meaning · counsel and advisers to rulers
Usually: detachment (164) · narrative (163) · argument (83) · curiosity (83) · indignation (39) · injustice endured (38) · reflection (37) · reunion (35) · wonder (33) · the fall of the great (32)
“slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an Amer · insight
“But when the tragic incident occurs between those who are near or dear to one another--if, for example, a brother kills, or intends to kill, a brother, a son his father, a mother her son, a son his mother...” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · observation
“Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness Heaven What love sincere, and reverence in my heart I bear thee, and unweeting have offended, Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not, Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid, Thy counsel, in this uttermost distress, My only strength and stay.” John Milton, Paradise Lost · vivid
“Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their existence in the social arrangements of the plantation.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“But the gifts of fortune can do little to relieve reverses sent by Heaven.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · insight
“I will content myself with saying that more pearls hung from her fair neck, her ears, and her hair than she had hairs on her head.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · vivid
“Sir Siegmund,” quoth she, “forsooth I like not for to ride. Whatever fortune, here must I tarry with my kindred, who help me mourn.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · insight
“I have collected so large a body of facts, showing... that a cross between different varieties... gives vigour and fertility to the offspring; and... close interbreeding diminishes vigour and fertility.” Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selecti · observation
“For there is unity where there is community of pleasures and pains—where all the citizens are glad or grieved on the same occasions of joy and sorrow?” Plato, The Republic · insight
“It is I, Ulysses, who am here. I have suffered much, but at last, in the twentieth year, I am come back to my own country.” Homer, The Odyssey · observation
“There is no other thing more mischievous to men than roaming; yet for their cursed belly’s need men endure sore distress.” Homer, The Odyssey of Homer · insight
“These walls then Deïokes built for himself and round his own palace, and the people he commanded to dwell round about the wall.” Herodotus, The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 · observation
The passage continues Sura VIII with inheritance-like rules tying believers by faith and migration, warns that infidels support one another, and closes the legal and communal framework for the believers’ unity.
shall know good21 to be in your hearts, He will give you good beyond all that hath been taken from you, and will forgive you: for God is Forgiving, Merciful." But if they seek to deal treacherously with you-they have already dealt treacherously22 with God before! Therefore hath He given you power over them. God is Knowing, Wise. Verily, they who have believed and fled their homes and spent their substance for the c…
The editor argues Pepys was not plebeian despite his tailor father, traces family status from medieval Cambridge and Croyland bailiffs to later gentry, recounts John Pepys’s London life, and gives a long biographical sketch.
"A Noate written out of an ould Booke of my uncle William Pepys." "William Pepys, who died at Cottenham, 10 H. 8, was brought up by the Abbat of Crowland, in Huntingdonshire, and he was borne in Dunbar, in Scotland, a gentleman, whom the said Abbat did make his Bayliffe of all his lands in Cambridgeshire, and placed him in Cottenham, which William aforesaid had three sonnes, Thomas, John, an…
This passage continues Pepys’s family biography: it details John Pepys’s will, his wife Margaret’s death at Brampton, Samuel’s birth date (place uncertain), and his schooling and Cambridge entry as a sizar.
was a citizen of London in 1650, when his son Samuel was admitted to Magdalene College, but at an earlier period he appears to have had business relations with Holland. In August, 1661, John Pepys retired to a small property at Brampton (worth about L80 per annum), which had been left to him by his eldest brother, Robert Pepys, where he died in 1680. The following is a copy of John Pepys's will: "MY FATHER'S WILL.…
Minerva-as-Mentes claims she is King of the Taphians traveling to Temesa for iron and returning with copper, says Odysseus is likely alive on a sea-girt island or captive, and notes Telemachus resembles Ulysses. Telemachus responds with bitterness, then asks the visitor the meaning of the feasting and the identity of the violent guests.
you a stranger to this house, or have you been here in my father’s time? In the old days we had many visitors for my father went about much himself.” And Minerva answered, “I will tell you truly and particularly all about it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialus, and I am King of the Taphians. I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign tongue being bound for Temesa4 with a cargo of iron, and I …
Euryclea washes Ulysses’ leg, recognizes his boar-hunting scar and recalls his name given by Autolycus, before the recognition can fully resolve the scene’s truth.
she, “Euryclea, and wash your master’s age-mate; I suppose Ulysses’ hands and feet are very much the same now as his are, for trouble ages all of us dreadfully fast.” On these words the old woman covered her face with her hands; she began to weep and made lamentation saying, “My dear child, I cannot think whatever I am to do with you. I am certain no one was ever more god-fearing than yourself, and yet Jove hates yo…
Ulysses visits Autolycus on Mount Parnassus, receives gifts after hunting and killing a boar that injures his knee, and returns to Ithaca where nurse Euryclea recognizes his scar.
grows up and comes to visit his mother’s family on Mt. Parnassus, where my possessions lie, I will make him a present and will send him on his way rejoicing.” Ulysses, therefore, went to Parnassus to get the presents from Autolycus, who with his sons shook hands with him and gave him welcome. His grandmother Amphithea threw her arms about him, and kissed his head, and both his beautiful eyes, while Autolycus desired…
Euryclea’s recognition of Ulysses is cut off when Minerva distracts Penelope, so Ulysses restrains Euryclea from revealing him and hides the scar under his rags.
by the beard and said, “My dear child, I am sure you must be Ulysses himself, only I did not know you till I had actually touched and handled you.” As she spoke she looked towards Penelope, as though wanting to tell her that her dear husband was in the house, but Penelope was unable to look in that direction and observe what was going on, for Minerva had diverted her attention; so Ulysses caught Euryclea by the thro…
Outside the palace, Ulysses reveals himself to Eumaeus and the stockman, shows his scar from Mt. Parnassus, instructs them to manage witnesses and doors, and returns to the bow trial.
Then the swineherd and the stockman left the cloisters together, and Ulysses followed them. When they had got outside the gates and the outer yard, Ulysses said to them quietly: “Stockman, and you swineherd, I have something in my mind which I am in doubt whether to say or no; but I think I will say it. What manner of men would you be to stand by Ulysses, if some god should bring him back here all of a sudden? Say w…
Euryclea tells Penelope that Ulysses has returned and killed the suitors; Penelope doubts the claim, but is convinced when Ulysses reveals the bed’s hidden construction and unique proof.
to the other two, “I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent to me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors.” So saying he made a ship’s cable fast to one of the bearing-posts that supported the roof of the domed room, and secured it all around the building, at a good height, lest any of the women’s feet should touch the ground; and as thrushes or doves beat against a net that ha…
Odysseus praises communal feasting, then identifies himself as Odysseus of Ithaca and narrates his voyage: from Ismarus against the Cicones, to the lotus-eaters, and onward toward the Cyclopes.
Odysseus relates, first, what befell him amongst the Cicones at Ismarus; secondly, amongst the Lotophagi; thirdly, how he was used by the Cyclops Polyphemus. And Odysseus of many counsels answered him saying: “King Alcinous, most notable of all the people, verily it is a good thing to list to a minstrel such as this one, like to the gods in voice. Nay, as for me, I say that there is no more gracious or perfect delig…
Eumaeus warns Odysseus against the dangerous wooers, then explains his own past and family, while Odysseus presses for details about Eumaeus’ origins and whether his parents live or died.
a serving-man, in piling well a fire, in cleaving dry faggots, and in carving and roasting flesh and in pouring of wine, those offices wherein meaner men serve their betters.” Then didst thou speak to him in heaviness of heart, swineherd Eumaeus: “Ah! wherefore, stranger, hath such a thought arisen in thine heart? Surely thou art set on perishing utterly there, if thou wouldest indeed go into the throng of the wooer…
On Ithaca Telemachus rides forward and reunites with Odysseus in disguise at the swineherd’s hut, while Odysseus welcomes him emotionally like a long-absent father recognizing his son.
a kindly man, who is careful to give thee meat and drink and right well thou livest. But I have come hither still wandering through the many towns of men.” Thus they spake one with the other. Then they laid them down to sleep for no long while, but for a little space, for soon came the throned Dawn. But on the shore the company of Telemachus were striking their sails, and took down the mast quickly and rowed the shi…
Laertes laments that Odysseus has been missing for years and not mourned properly, then Odysseus in a false identity claims he is from Alybas and says Odysseus left five years ago.
[42] Supplying ὄρχατον from the preceding clause as object to ἔχει. Other constructions are possible. Then his father answered him, weeping: “Stranger, thou art verily come to that country whereof thou askest, but outrageous men and froward hold it. And these thy gifts, thy countless gifts, thou didst bestow in vain. For if thou hadst found that man yet living in the land of Ithaca he would have sent thee on thy way…
Odysseus reveals himself as the missing Odysseus and demands proof by a manifest token, showing a scar and recalling trees and vines from Laertes’ childhood garden to confirm identity.
Then Laertes answered him and spake, saying: “If thou art indeed Odysseus, mine own child, that art come hither, show me now a manifest token, that I may be assured.” Then Odysseus of many counsels answered him saying: “Look first on this scar and consider it, that the boar dealt me with his white tusk on Parnassus, whither I had gone, and thou didst send me forth, thou and my lady mother, to Autolycus my mother’s f…
Darwin digresses on hermaphrodites, arguing that even when sexes are combined, occasional cross-fertilisation with another individual is likely necessary, aided by breeder observations of vigour and fertility in outcrosses.
of the meaning of the law) that no organic being self-fertilises itself for an eternity of generations; but that a cross with another individual is occasionally—perhaps at very long intervals—indispensable. On the belief that this is a law of nature, we can, I think, understand several large classes of facts, such as the following, which on any other view are inexplicable. Every hybridizer knows how unfavourable exp…
He explains how intercrossing maintains uniformity within species but also allows new varieties through isolation and local selection, and he notes nurserymen prefer seed from large single-variety stands to reduce mixing.
On the above principle, nurserymen always prefer getting seed from a large body of plants of the same variety, as the chance of intercrossing with other varieties is thus lessened. Even in the case of slow-breeding animals, which unite for each birth, we must not overrate the effects of intercrosses in retarding natural selection; for I can bring a considerable catalogue of facts, showing that within the same area, …
Du Bois recounts a summer teaching trip in rural Tennessee—searching for schools, meeting families like Josie’s, and describing the remote, isolated landscape where a single teacher is eagerly sought.
stage lines, to a land of “varmints” and rattlesnakes, where the coming of a stranger was an event, and men lived and died in the shadow of one blue hill. Sprinkled over hill and dale lay cabins and farmhouses, shut out from the world by the forests and the rolling hills toward the east. There I found at last a little school. Josie told me of it; she was a thin, homely girl of twenty, with a dark-brown face and thic…
Noah’s sons and their descendants are listed after the Flood, tracing lineages through Japheth, Ham (including Nimrod), and Shem, ending with the peoples that filled the world.
These are the generations of the sons of Noe: of Sem, Ham and Iapheth, which begat them children after the flood. The sons of Iapheth were: Gomir, Magog, Madai, Iavan, Tuball, Mesech and Thyras. And the sons of Gomir were: Ascenas, Riphat and Togarma. And the sons of Iavan were: Elisa, Tharsis, Cithim, and Dodanim. Of these came the Isles of the gentiles in their countries, every man in his speech, kindred and nation…
Lot flees Sodom and Gomorrah to Zoar as God rains brimstone and fire; Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt, and Lot dwells in a mountain cave where his daughters get him drunk to preserve their family line.
Save thy life and look not behind thee neither tarry thou in any place of the country, but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou perish. Then said Lot unto them: Oh nay my Lord: {lorde} behold, inasmuch as thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, now make thy mercy great which thou shewest unto me in saving my life. For I can not save myself in the mountains, lest some misfortune fall upon me and I die. Behold, h…
Lot’s daughters bear sons named Moab (father of the Moabites) and Ben Ammi (father of the Ammonites), linking the family story to later neighboring peoples.
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the elder bare a son and called him Moab, which is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger bare a son and called him Ben Ammi, which is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Abraham marries Keturah, names her sons, gives Isaac his inheritance and sends concubine-sons east; Abraham then dies, and Isaac blesses and continues the genealogies of Ishmael and Isaac with Esau and Jacob.
Abraham took him another wife called Ketura, which bare him Simran, Iacksan, Medan, Midian, Iesback and Suah. And Iacksan begat Seba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Assurim, Letusim and Leumim. And the sons of Midian were Epha, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Elda. All these were the children of Bethura. {Ketura} But Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. And unto the sons of his concubines he gave gifts, and sent t…
At a well near Haran, Jacob meets Rachel and waters Laban’s sheep, then serves Laban seven years for Rachel; Laban instead gives Leah first, then Rachel, and Leah bears Ruben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
Then Iacob lift up his feet, and went toward the east country. And as he looked about, behold there was a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lay thereby (for at that well were the flocks watered) and there lay a great stone at the well mouth. And the manner was to bring the flocks thither, and to roll the stone from the well's mouth and to water the sheep, and to put the stone again upon the well's mouth un…
Rachel remains barren and trades through her maid Bilhah; Leah responds by giving Jacob her maid Silphah, bearing Gad, Asher, and others, while rivalry over mandrakes leads to more children and Joseph; Jacob then asks to leave.
When Rahel saw that she bare Iacob no children, she envied her sister and said unto Iacob: give me children, or else I am but dead. Then was Iacob wroth with Rahel saying: Am I in God's {godes} stead which keepeth from thee the fruit of thy womb? Then she said: here is my maid Bilha: go in unto her, that she may bear upon my lap, that I may be increased by her. And she gave him Bilha her handmaid to wife. And Iacob w…
Jacob arranges his family for meeting Esau, falls repeatedly to the ground, and is embraced and kissed; Esau accepts Jacob’s gift, but separates paths as Jacob travels toward Sucoth and then toward Shechem.
Iacob lift up his eyes and saw his brother Esau come, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Lea and unto Rahel and unto the two maidens. And he put the maidens and their children foremost, and Lea and her children after, and Rahel and Ioseph hindermost. And he went before them and fell on the ground seven times, until he came unto his brother. Esau ran against {to meet} him and embraced him …
Dina is raped by Sichem, leading to negotiations between Hemor and Jacob’s sons that include circumcision, after which Simeon and Levi massacre the men of the city and seize Dina, then Jacob fears retaliation.
Dina the daughter of Lea which she bare unto Iacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite lord of the country, saw her, and took her, and lay with her, and forced her: and his heart lay unto Dina the daughter of Iacob. And he loved the damsel and spake kindly unto her, and spake unto his father Hemor saying, get me this maiden unto my wife. And Iacob heard that he had defil…
God tells Jacob to go to Bethel, where Jacob purifies his household, builds an altar, receives blessings and the name Israel, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin near Bethlehem, and Jacob’s sons are listed.
And God said unto Iacob, arise and get thee up to Bethel, and dwell there. And make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from Esau thy brother. Then said Iacob unto his household and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you and make your selves clean, and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there, unto God w…
The text provides genealogies of Esau/Edom, listing his wives, sons, tribal chiefs, and kings who reigned in Edom before kings reigned among Israel.
These are the generations of Esau which is called Edom. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan Ada the daughter of Elon an Hethite, and Ahalibama the daughter of Ana, which Ana was the son of Zibeon an Hevite; And Basmath Ismael's daughter and sister of Nebaioth. And Ada bare unto Esau, Eliphas: and Basmath bare Reguel: And Ahalibama bare Ieus, Iaelam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau which were born him …
Jacob’s family travels from Beersheba to Egypt after God’s night vision to Jacob, with Pharaoh-sent chariots, then a long census lists Jacob’s descendants and their household total of seventy.
Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came unto Berseba and offered offerings unto the God of his father Isaac. And God said unto Israel in a vision by night, and called unto him: Iacob, Iacob. And he answered: here am I. And he said: I am that mighty God of thy father, fear not to go down into Egypt. For I will make of thee there a great people. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also bring …
After the plague, Moses and Eleazar count Israelite men aged twenty and up for war in the fields of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, listing tribal genealogies beginning with Reuben and Simeon.
When Balam saw that it pleased the LORD that he should bless Israel, he went not as he did twice before to fetch soothsaying, but set his face toward the wilderness, and lift up his eyes and looked upon Israel as he lay with his tribes, and the spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable and said: Balam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eye is open hath said: he hath said which heareth the word…
The census continues with counts and genealogies for Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Ephraim/Manasse and other Joseph descendants, ending mid-list with Naphtali’s family names.
And Israel dwelt in Sittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, which called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods. And the people ate and worshipped their gods, and Israel coupled himself unto Baal Peor. Then the LORD was angry with Israel, and said unto Moses: take all the heads of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD against the son, that the wrath of the LORD may turn a…
It lists the Israelite tribes and Levitical families, counts Israel’s population and relevant male figures, and explains how Moses’ numbered generation would die in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua.
and of Iezer, came the kindred of the Iezerites: and of Selem the kindred of Selemites. These are the kindreds of Naphthali in their generations in number forty five thousand and four hundred. These are the numbers of the children of Israel: six hundred thousand, and a thousand seven hundred and thirty. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: unto these the land shall be divided to inherit, according to the number of n…
Moses describes hewing new stone tablets, putting them in the Ark, Israel’s journey through named stops after Aaron’s death, and the LORD’s further call to love, fear, and cleave to Him.
In the same season the LORD said unto me: hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first and come up unto me into the mount and make thee an Ark of wood, and I will write in the table, the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of sethim wood and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mountain and the two tables in m…
Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, describing God’s appearance from Sinai, then giving specific blessings to Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher.
This is the blessing wherewith Moses God's {gods} man blessed the children of Israel before his death saying: The LORD came from Sinai and shewed his beams from Seir unto them, and appeared gloriously from mount Pharan, and he came with thousands of saints, and in his right hand a law of fire for them. How loved he the people? All his saints are in his hand. They joined them selves unto thy foot and received thy word…
A biographical note states Frederick Douglass was born enslaved as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey near Easton in Talbot County, Maryland (1817/1818), escaped in 1838, married Anna Murray, changed his name, and later worked for emancipation and U.S.-Haiti affairs.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Frederick Douglass was born in slavery as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey near Easton in Talbot County, Maryland. He was not sure of the exact year of his birth, but he knew that it was 1817 or 1818. As a young boy he was sent to Baltimore, to be a house servant, where he learned to read and write, with the assistance of his master’s wife. In 1838 he escaped from slavery and went to New York…
Douglass describes his mother Harriet Bailey’s brief night visits from a farm near Lee’s Mill, the whipping system enforcing work at sunrise, her death when he was about seven, and the denial of knowledge of his father.
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. I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from my home. She made her jou…
Douglass argues that slaveholding laws make children of enslaved women follow their mothers’ condition, sustaining master-father dynamics, increasing suffering for mixed-race enslaved people, and he introduces his first master Anthony and overseer Plummer.
word of disapproval, it is set down to his parental partiality, and only makes a bad matter worse, both for himself and the slave whom he would protect and defend. Every year brings with it multitudes of this class of slaves. It was doubtless in consequence of a knowledge of this fact, that one great statesman of the south predicted the downfall of slavery by the inevitable laws of population. Whether this prophecy …
Anchises welcomes Aeneas in Elysium, explains how souls await reincarnation by viewing their future descendants, shows the Lethe’s oblivion-stream, and has Aeneas question why great souls would desire mortal life again.
your journey’s end.” This said, he led them up the mountain’s brow, And shews them all the shining fields below. They wind the hill, and thro’ the blissful meadows go. But old Anchises, in a flow’ry vale, Review’d his muster’d race, and took the tale: Those happy spirits, which, ordain’d by fate, For future beings and new bodies wait. With studious thought observ’d th’ illustrious throng, …
Anchises leads Aeneas to view a procession of Trojan and Roman descendants, listing names and cities from Silvius and Alban rulers through Romulus and culminating in the prophecy of imperial Rome’s dominance.
flood, In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares Of their past labours, and their irksome years, That, unrememb’ring of its former pain, The soul may suffer mortal flesh again.” Thus having said, the father spirit leads The priestess and his son thro’ swarms of shades, And takes a rising ground, from thence to see The long procession of his progeny. “Survey,” pursued the sire, “this airy…
In the Joseph narrative, Jacob recognizes the shirt’s sign after it is thrown on his face, Joseph brings his family to Egypt, and the story is framed as a “secret history” teaching for all mankind.
8 Some take the Arabic Boshra as the proper name of the person who accompanied the drawer of water. 9 The apparition of his father, who said, "Hereafter shall the names of thy brethren, engraven on precious stones, shine on the breast of the High Priest. Shall thine be blotted out?" Tr. Sotah, fol. 36. Comp. Weil, Legenden, p. 109, n. 10 Lit. that he be imprisoned. 11 An infant in the cradle. Sepher Hadjascher, as…
After victory, the text defines community kinship rules among believers who migrated versus those who did not, and urges solidarity against infidels to prevent discord and corruption.
shall know good21 to be in your hearts, He will give you good beyond all that hath been taken from you, and will forgive you: for God is Forgiving, Merciful." But if they seek to deal treacherously with you–they have already dealt treacherously22 with God before! Therefore hath He given you power over them. God is Knowing, Wise. Verily, they who have believed and fled their homes and spent their substance for the c…
Qur’anic law and narrative address the Confederates: belief versus hypocrisy, rules for family relations and adoption, remembrance of God, and commands about fighting, loyalty, and testimony during the siege of Medina.
your brethren in the faith, and your comrades. And unless made with intent of heart, mistakes in this matter shall be no crime in you: for God is Lenient, Merciful. Nearer of kin to the faithful is the Prophet, than they are to their own selves. His wives are their mothers. According to the Book of God, they who are related by blood, are nearer the one to the other than other believers, and than those who have fled …
The passage (Sura LX) instructs believers not to be loyal to hostile enemies, limits family protection on the Day of Resurrection, and explains fair treatment toward non-combatants, refuge for refugees, and women’s pledge conditions.
Neither your kindred nor your children shall at all avail you on the day of the resurrection. A severance between you will it make! and your actions doth God behold. A good example had ye in Abraham,3 and in those who followed him, when they said to their people, "Verily, we are clear of you, and of what ye worship beside God: we renounce you: and between us and hath hatred and enmity sprung up for ever, until ye be…
Equiano describes the kingdom of Benen and Eboe, his 1745 birth, local justice and punishment, and details marriage customs, dowry, adultery penalties, and public celebrations with bonefires and music.
was undertaken will be fully attained, and every wish of my heart gratified. Let it therefore be remembered, that, in wishing to avoid censure, I do not aspire to praise. That part of Africa, known by the name of Guinea, to which the trade for slaves is carried on, extends along the coast above 3400 miles, from the Senegal to Angola, and includes a variety of kingdoms. Of these the most considerable is the kingdom o…
This section includes footnotes and then begins Chapter II, describing Equiano’s birth and parentage, his kidnapping and separation from his sister, and his experiences traveling to the coast and witnessing a slave ship before reaching Barbados.
[Footnote F: See also Leut. Matthew's Voyage, p. 123.] [Footnote G: An instance of this kind happened at Montserrat in the West Indies in the year 1763. I then belonged to the Charming Sally, Capt. Doran.--The chief mate, Mr. Mansfield, and some of the crew being one day on shore, were present at the burying of a poisoned negro girl. Though they had often heard of the circumstance of the running in such cases, and h…
Equiano’s small comfort from speaking with fellow countrymen ends when his women caregivers are sent away to different places, and he then transitions to a chapter about later events in Virginia and England.
this is a new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery. CHAP. III. _The author is carried to Virginia--His distress--Surprise at seeing a picture and a watch--Is bought by Captain Pascal, and sets out for England--His terror during the voyage--Arrives in England--His wonder at a fall o…
After emancipation, many change surnames and briefly leave the old plantation; Washington’s stepfather summons his family to the Kanawha Valley in West Virginia, prompting a long overland journey.
Boyhood Days After the coming of freedom there were two points upon which practically all the people on our place were agreed, and I found that this was generally true throughout the South: that they must change their names, and that they must leave the old plantation for at least a few days or weeks in order that they might really feel sure that they were free. In some way a feeling got among the coloured people t…
Washington argues against harsh judgment of Negro youth, discusses the pushback of lacking ancestry and the importance of family legacy, then returns to night school after irregular day attendance and adopts an orphan boy named James B. Washington.
I resolved that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still higher effort. The world should not pass judgment upon the Negro, and especially the Negro youth, too quickly or too harshly. The Negro boy has obstacles, discouragements, and temptations to battle with that are little known to those not situated as he is. When a white …
At Hampton Washington lives with about seventy-five Indian youths, gains their trust and respect through humane discipline, notes similarities in learning between Indian and Black students, and recounts Douglass’s response to being forced into a baggage car.
I dreaded to give it up. However, I tore myself away from it. I did not know how to refuse to perform any service that General Armstrong desired of me. On going to Hampton, I took up my residence in a building with about seventy-five Indian youths. I was the only person in the building who was not a member of their race. At first I had a good deal of doubt about my ability to succeed. I knew that the average Indian …
“In meuum regnum accepi” is interpreted not as a legal adoption but as Micipsa bringing Jugurtha into his palace to be raised among his children.
[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--*Beneficia vestra.* Offices of state, civil and military. [115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62. [116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam haec tempora magis placent,* etc. "*Those times_, which i…
He traces his paternal ancestry from Huguenots forced into Ulster, to the Du Bois family’s time in New York, Haiti, and Massachusetts, culminating in his grandfather’s leadership against exclusion in New Haven’s St. Luke’s Parish.
as I saw him first, in his home in New Bedford,--white hair close-cropped; a seamed, hard face, but high in tone, with a gray eye that could twinkle or glare. Long years before him Louis XIV drove two Huguenots, Jacques and Louis Du Bois, into wild Ulster County, New York. One of them in the third or fourth generation had a descendant, Dr. James Du Bois, a gay, rich bachelor, who made his money in the Bahamas, where…
At the colonel’s mansion in Waco, the stranger is welcomed by the wife and daughter, but their shock reveals his mixed-race status, and the scene culminates in the child being taken upstairs with him.
a foreigner. The long, cloak-like coat told this. They rode in the twilight through the lighted town and at last drew up before the colonel's mansion, with its ghost-like pillars. The lady in the back seat was thinking of the guests she had invited to dinner and was wondering if she ought not to ask this man to stay. He seemed cultured and she supposed he was some acquaintance of the colonel's. It would be rather in…
In the allegory, a Black woman answers the King’s call after hesitating, declares herself black, and the King reveals his face as black before she goes to battle for him on a hostile day.
pans; and the woman straightway left her chatting and gossiping and the sewing of garments, and the woman stood before the King, saying: "The servant of thy servants, O Lord." Then the King smiled,--smiled wondrously, so that the setting sun burst through the clouds, and the hearts of the King's men dried hard within them. And the low-voiced King said, so low that even they that listened heard not well: "Go, smite m…
Du Bois discusses African ideals of motherhood, then argues the Atlantic slave trade and American slavery disrupted family life and displaced the “mother-idea,” leaving women trapped amid polygamy and degraded social conditions.
my mother!" And the Herero swears (endless oath) "By my mother's tears!" "As the mist in the swamps," cries the Angola Negro, "so lives the love of father and mother." A student of the present Gold Coast life describes the work of the village headman, and adds: "It is a difficult task that he is set to, but in this matter he has all-powerful helpers in the female members of the family, who will be either the aunts o…
Du Bois argues that by 1910 Black women form a dominant social and economic force, detail labor statistics and family disruption, and claims women’s uplift is essential to America’s future.
1887 she had raised money and built an orphan home and that same year, in the thirty-fourth year of her young life, she died, saying simply: "I belong to God." As I look about me today in this veiled world of mine, despite the noisier and more spectacular advance of my brothers, I instinctively feel and know that it is the five million women of my race who really count. Black women (and women whose grandmothers were…
He explains why Black women’s economic independence cannot be reversed, argues that class and labor conditions, not biology, drive family breakdown, and calls for reform—paying women for work and protecting voting rights.
are called to the city. As a result the Negro women outnumber the men nine or ten to eight in many cities, making what Charlotte Gilman bluntly calls "cheap women." What shall we say to this new economic equality in a great laboring class? Some people within and without the race deplore it. "Back to the homes with the women," they cry, "and higher wage for the men." But how impossible this is has been shown by war c…
Douglass describes the family log cabin where his grandmother lived separately with her grandchildren, praises its simplicity, and uses it to criticize slavery’s cruelty in separating children from mothers and undermining family bonds.
came after her planting, she was not forgotten by those for whom she planted; and as she was remembered by others, so she remembered the hungry little ones around her. The dwelling of my grandmother and grandfather had few pretensions. It was a log hut, or cabin, built of clay, wood, and straw. At a distance it resembled—though it was smaller, less commodious and less substantial—the cabins erected in the western st…
On the journey to Col. Edward Lloyd’s plantation, Douglass meets many enslaved children of different complexions, learns slavery separates families, and hears that terms like “brother” and “sisters” have been emptied of meaning.
the ears, only ears owing to the point from which they were seen. Thus early I learned that the point from which a thing is viewed is of some importance. As the day advanced the heat increased; and it was not until the afternoon that we reached the much dreaded end of the journey. I found myself in the midst of a group of children of many colors; black, brown, copper colored, and nearly white. I had not seen so many…
Douglass discusses how slavery abolishes fathers and families, gives an account of his mother’s appearance and separation from him, and explains how slave practices divert a child’s affection away from the mother.
MY FATHER SHROUDED IN MYSTERY—MY MOTHER—HER PERSONAL APPEARANCE—INTERFERENCE OF SLAVERY WITH THE NATURAL AFFECTIONS OF MOTHER AND CHILDREN—SITUATION OF MY MOTHER—HER NIGHTLY VISITS TO HER BOY—STRIKING INCIDENT—HER DEATH—HER PLACE OF BURIAL. If the reader will now be kind enough to allow me time to grow bigger, and afford me an opportunity for my experience to become greater, I will tell him something, by-and-by, of …
After Mrs. Lucretia’s and Master Andrew’s deaths, Douglass reflects on insecurity without a protector, condemns slaveholders for betraying his grandmother, and describes her being taken to a lonely hut in the woods.
leaving his wife and one child. Thus, the whole family of Anthonys was swept away; only two children remained. All this happened within five years of my leaving Col. Lloyd’s. No alteration took place in the condition of the slaves, in consequence of these deaths, yet I could not help feeling less secure, after the death of my friend, Mrs. Lucretia, than I had done during her life. While she lived, I felt that I had …
Plutarch concludes the Numa narrative by recounting competing accounts of Numa’s family and by connecting Pompilia’s marriage to Marcius, whose son Ancus Marcius succeeded Tullus Hostilius.
the serenity of his spirit diffused itself, like a calm, on all sides; so that the hyperboles of poets were flat and tame to express what then existed; as that Over the iron shield the spiders hang their threads, or that Rust eats the pointed spear and double-edged sword. No more is heard the trumpet's brazen roar, Sweet sleep is banished from our eyes no more. For, during the whole reign of Numa, there was neith…