I Ask You...to Adopt The Principles Proclaimed

Grandmother Pointed Out My Brother Perry, My Sister Sarah, And My Sister Eliza, Who Stood In The Group. I Had Never Seen My Brother Nor My Sisters Before; And, Though I Had Sometimes Heard Of Them, And Felt A Curious Interest In Them, I Really Did Not Understand What They Were To Me, Or I To Them. We Were Brothers And Sisters, But What Of That? Why Should They Be Attached To Me, Or I To Them? Brothers And Sisters Were By Blood; But Slavery Had Made Us Strangers. I Heard The Words Brother And Sisters, And Knew They Must Mean Something; But Slavery Had Robbed These Terms Of Their True Meaning.

We Succeed, Not Alone By The Laborious Exertions Of Our Faculties, Be They Small Or Great, But By The Regular, Thoughtful And Systematic Exercise Of Them.

Where Justice Is Denied, Where Poverty Is Enforced, . . . Neither Persons Nor Property Will Be Safe.

Poverty, Ignorance And Degradation Are The Combined Evils, These Constitute The Social Disease Of The Free Colored People Of The Us.

He Who Would Be Free Must Strike The First Blow.