DOCUMENT E
Source: Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, Philadelphia, 1794.
There is much gratitude due from our color towards the white people, very many of them are instruments
in the hand of God for our good, even such as have held us in captivity, are now pleading our cause with
earnestness and zeal; . . . much depends upon us for the help of our color more than we are aware; if we
are lazy and idle, the enemies of freedom plead it as a cause why we ought not to be free, and say we are
better in a state of servitude, and that giving us our liberty would be an injury to us, and by such conduct
we strengthen the bands of oppression, and keep many in bondage who are more worthy than ourselves.