Jacob Lawrence, "The Life of Frederic Douglass No. 11," 1939

Jacob Lawrence, The Life of Frederick Douglass No. 11. The slaves were invariably given a Christmas and New Year's holiday, which they spent in various ways, such as hunting, ball playing, boxing, foot racing and drinking-the latter being encouraged the most by the slaveholders, this being the most effective way of keeping down the spirit of insurrection among slaves. (1939)

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September 25, 2002:

I asked her friend once, "How can you watch her poison herself and not intervene?" She looked away, at the floor, at her toes, and whispered, "I could never do that. She'd drop me just as she dropped you, and I couldn't live with that."

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