Gerrit Smith, about October 1847

The free colored people of this country have lost their self-respect. Hence my gravest doubt of their redemption. Hence too, my gravest doubt that they will ever exert an effectual influence for the redemption of their enslaved brethren. . . . Could I but get the ear of my northern colored brethren, — could I but get it away from their flatterers and deceivers — I would say to them: “Cultivate self-respect; cultivate self-respect,” — for by that means, and not without that means, can you peaceably regain your own rights, or the rights of your race at the south.

SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 229 which does not date this document; Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored People and Their Friends; held in Troy, NY; on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of October, 1847, for the date of the conventon.