Martin Delany

“I am not in favor of caste, nor a separation of the brotherhood of mankind, and would as willingly live among white men as black, if I had the same rights and privileges.”

“We are a nation within a nation, as the Poles in Russia, the Hungarians in Austria, the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch in the British dominions.”

“Every people should be the originators of their own designs, the projectors of their own schemes, and creators of the events that lead to their destiny -- the consummation of their desires.”

“Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts, and work of our own hands. No other human power can accomplish it.”

“The claims of no people, according to established policy and usage, are respected by any nation, until they are presented in a national capacity.”

“No enterprise, political or national, can be successful, without the counsel and cooperation of woman.”

“I am an abolitionist from the start to the end. I am for the total, unconditional, and immediate abolition of slavery.”

“We have native hearts and virtues, just as other nations; which in their pristine purity are noble, potent, and worthy of example.”

“The first desire of a man is to be free; his first impulse is to resist oppression.”

“A person to be a man must have a country, and a nation, to which he is attached by birth and choice.”