abolitionists of New England, and began
to travel, I found this prejudice very strong and very annoying. The
abolitionists themselves were not entirely free from it, and I could
see that they were nobly struggling against it. In their eagerness,
sometimes, to show their contempt for the feeling, they proved that they
had not entirely recovered from it; often illustrating the saying,
in their conduct, that a man may "stand up so straight as to lean
backward." When it was said to me, "Mr. Douglass, I will walk to
meeting with you; I am not afraid of a black man," I could not help
thinking--seeing nothing very frightful in my appearance--"And why
should you be?" The children at the north had all been educated
to believe that if they were bad, the old _black_ man--not the old
_devil_--would get them; and it was evidence of some courage, for any so
educated to get the better of their fears.

The custom of providing separate cars for the accommodation of colored
travelers, was established on nearly all the railroads of New England, a
dozen years ago. Regarding this custom as fostering the spirit of caste,
I made it a rule to seat myself in the cars for the accommodation of
passengers generally. Thus seated, I was sure to be called upon to
betake myself to the "_Jim Crow car_." Refusing to obey, I was often
dragged out of my seat, beaten, and severely bruised, by conductors and
brakemen. Attempting to start from Lynn, one day, for Newburyport, on
the Eastern railroad, I went, as my custom was, into one of the best
railroad carriages on the road. The seats were very luxuriant and
beautiful. I was soon waited upon by the conductor, and ordered out;
whereupon I demanded the reason for my invidious removal. After a good
deal of parleying, I was told that it was because I{310} was black. This
I denied, and appealed to the company to sustain my denial; but they
were evidently unwilling to commit themselves, on a point so delicate,
and requiring such nice powers of discrimination, for they remained as
dumb as death. I was soon waited on by half a dozen fellows of the
baser sort (just such as would volunteer to take a bull-dog out of a
meeting-house in time of public worship), and told that I must move out
of that seat, and if I did not, they would drag me out. I refused
to move, and they clutched me, head, neck, and shoulders. But, in
anticipation of the stretching to which I was about to be subjected,
I had interwoven myself among