Freedman Quotes

“You come here 'cause of me?"

"I come here 'cause you said the word freedom. Sheesh!" He was mad. "My wife and children's still in bondage. How I'm gonna plan on earning money to buy them if he's monkeying 'round, fighting the Missourians?"

"You didn't ask him?"

"There weren't no asking, Bob said. "My marse and I was rolling to town. I heard a noise. Next thing I know, he stepped out the woods holding a rifle in marse's face. He said, 'I'm tak ing your wagon and freeing your colored man. He didn't ask me if I wanted to be free. Course I come along 'cause I had to. But I thought he was gonna free me to the north. Nobody said nothing about fighting nobody."

That was the thing. The Old Man done the same to me. He reckoned every colored wanted to fight for his freedom. It never occurred to him that they would feel any other way.”
― James McBride, The Good Lord Bird

“The ship you promised would come from Africa with money and an entourage has not arrived. The legacy hunters, just about cleaned out, have diminished their giving. Either I am mistaken, or the bill for our rare good fortune is about to arrive with interest.”
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All beneficiaries of my will, except for my freedmen, may inherit under this condition: that they cut my body into pieces and eat it with all the townspeople watching.
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We know that certain nations maintain the custom of relatives devour­ing their dead. In fact, the sick are often scolded for the deterioration of their flesh. For these reasons, I admonish my dear friends not to deny my request, but to eat my body with the same eagerness with which they prayed for it to die”
― Sarah Ruden, The Satyricon