Jermain Loguen escaped from his Tennessee slavemaster in 1834 by stealing a horse. He made his way to New York, became a minister and a noted abolitionist, started a family, and built schools. As he became widely known, the wife of his enslaver wrote a letter to Loguen in 1860. It started off as a friendly update on her family and Loguen’s family members who were still enslaved, then demanded Loguen send $1000 for the horse he stole (which had been returned), or else she would sell him in absentia. Loguen replied with a letter for the ages. Here’s just a small part.
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You say you have offers to buy me, and that you shall sell me if I do not send you $1000, and in the same breath and almost in the same sentence, you say, “you know we raised you as we did our own children.” Woman, did you raise your own children for the market? Did you raise them for the whipping-post? Did you raise them to be driven off in a coffle in chains? Where are my poor bleeding brothers and sisters? Can you tell?
There’s a lot more to the letter, which drips with “unutterable scorn and contempt.” Read the entire response at Letters of Note. -via Nag on the Lake
(Image credit: William Simpson)
Source: neatorama