When this boy was brought to Dr. Young, his name being William, the same as mine, my mother was ordered to change mine to something else. This, at th…

- William Wells Brown

I was not only hunting for my liberty, but also hunting for my name.

- William Wells Brown

All I demand for the black man is, that the white people shall take their heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise by his own efforts.

- William Wells Brown

This is called 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'; it is called the 'asylum of the oppressed,' and some have been foolish enough to cal…

- William Wells Brown

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

- William Wells Brown

The duty I owe to the slave, to truth, and to God, demands that I should use my pen and tongue so long as life and health are vouchsafed to me to emp…

- William Wells Brown

Though slavery is thought, by some, to be mild in Missouri, when compared with the cotton, sugar and rice growing states, yet no part of our slave-ho…

- William Wells Brown

Someone must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen to me to do so. The awful death roll c…

- William Wells Brown

I would have the Constitution torn in shreds and scattered to the four winds of heaven. Let us destroy the Constitution and build on its ruins the te…

- William Wells Brown