W. L. Garrison
"I am not in favor of caste, nor a separation of the brotherhood of mankind, and would as willingly live among white men as black, if I had an equal possession and enjoyment of privileges; but shall never be reconciled to live among them, subservient to their will, existing by mere sufferences, as we, the colored people, do in this country.
"The majority of white men cannot see why colored men cannot be satisfied with their condition in Massachusetts, what they desire more than the granted right of citizenship. Blind selfishness on the one hand, and deep prejudice on the other will not permit them to understand that we desire the exercise and enjoyment of these rights, as well as the name of their possession. If there were any probability of this, I should be willing to remain in the country, fighting and struggling on, the good fight of faith. But I must admit, that I have no hopes in this country, with a few excellent exceptions, there, I have written as I have done. Heathenism and Liberty, before Christianity and Slavery."
To William Lloyd Garrison, May 14, 1852, after he gave MRD's opus, "The Condition and Elevation. . .of the Colored People" a mixed review in his newspaper, "The Liberator." Garrison wrote, at one point, in a long review: "We are sorry to see a tone of despondency, and an exhibition of the spirit of caste, in the concluding portions of this otherwise instructive and encouraging work. . .The idea of separatism is not only admitted, but strongly urged in a very plausible manner."(Ullman, pp. 146+147)
