Editor's Note: We revisit this poem by Frederick Douglass, first published on Axis of Logic on July 27, 2004. - LMB

Frederick Douglass, Minister and Consul-General to the Republic of Haiti from 1889 to 1891

UNTIL SHE SPOKE

Until she spoke, no Christian nation had abolished Negro slavery.

Until she spoke, no Christian nation had given to the world an organized effort to abolish slavery.

Until she spoke, the slave ship, followed by hungry sharks, greedy to devour the dead and dying slaves flung overboard to feed them, ploughed in peace the South Atlantic, painting the sea with the Negro's blood.

Until she spoke, the slave trade was sanctioned by all the Christian nations of the world, and our land of liberty and light included.

Men made fortunes by this infernal traffic, and were esteemed as good Christians, and the standing types and representations of the Savior of the World.

Until Haiti spoke, the church was silent, and the pulpit was dumb.

Slave-traders lived and slave-traders died.

Funeral sermons were preached over them, and of them it was said that they died in the triumphs of the Christian faith and went to heaven among the just.

Submitted by an Axis of Logic Correspondent