Prisoners of War

While the revered creator and abolitionist was doubtless addressing the barbaric treatment of four million of his people held in thralldom in the U.S. slave states, his voice resonates down through the corridors of time, touching and informing us as a new century dawns. At first blush, it may seem that Douglass was making reference to the horrific Civil War, but the dating sets his trenchant observation at fully a decade before the Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina, considered the opening salvo in the ensuing four years of armed conflict. What the astute Douglass was referring to, then, was an unofficial, undeclared, yet "unrivaled" conflict: a war against a people. His people. Black people.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website

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