--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is said that the Negro is ignorant…" description: "\"It is said that the Negro is ignorant. But why is he ignorant? It comes with ill grace from a man who has put out my eyes to makea parade of my blindne..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/778/frances-harper-23401_american-slavery_it-is-said-that-the-negro-is-ignorant-bu_2227742.jpg" --- # It is said that the Negro is ignorant. But why is he… ![“It is said that the Negro is ignorant. But why is he ignorant? It comes with ill grace from a man who has put out my eyes to makea parade of my blindness,--to reproach me for my poverty when he has wronged me of my money… If he is poor, what has become of the money he has been earning for the last…” quote by Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/778/frances-harper-23401_american-slavery_it-is-said-that-the-negro-is-ignorant-bu_2227742.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/778/frances-harper-23401_american-slavery_it-is-said-that-the-negro-is-ignorant-bu_2227742.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/778/frances-harper-23401_american-slavery_it-is-said-that-the-negro-is-ignorant-bu_2227742.jpg) > “It is said that the Negro is ignorant. But why is he ignorant? It comes with ill grace from a man who has put out my eyes to makea parade of my blindness,--to reproach me for my poverty when he has wronged me of my money… If he is poor, what has become of the money he has been earning for the last two hundred and fifty years? Years ago it was said cotton fights and cotton conquers for American slavery. The Negro helped build up that great cotton power in the South, and in the North his sigh was in the whir of its machinery, and his blood and tears upon the warp and woof of its manufactures.” [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author critiques the stereotype of Black ignorance, exposing systemic oppression and economic exploitation over centuries. **In simple terms:** Ignorance is imposed by oppression, not inherent. Key Takeaway Challenge stereotypes and recognize historical exploitation. Themes racism history economics Mood somber determined Type historical activist When to use this quote - education reform - social justice activism - economic reparations Key Concepts systemic oppression colonialism labor exploitation Questions to Reflect On - How can we dismantle entrenched stereotypes? - What reparative actions address historic exploitation? A Different Perspective Acknowledging past injustices can be painful and polarizing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-slavery/) [Blindness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blindness/) [Grace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grace/) [Ill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ill/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Parades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parades/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) [Tears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tears/) ## Related quotes > [It is over one hundred years since the abolition of slavery. The Negro people in the United States have taken plenty and they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-l-r-james/it-is-over-one-hundred-years-since-the-abolition-of-slavery-the-negro/) [C. L. R. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-l-r-james/) > [You can either be informed and your own rulers, or you can be ignorant and have someone else, who is not ignorant, rule over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/you-can-either-be-informed-and-your-own-rulers-or-you-can-be-ignorant/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [How ignorant we are! How ignorant everyone is! We can cut across only a small area of the appallingly expanding fields of knowledge. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-barnett-gilson/how-ignorant-we-are-how-ignorant-everyone-is-we-can-cut-across-only-a/) [Mary Barnett Gilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-barnett-gilson/) > [Ignorant have always the tendency to see the donkey as the noble horse, to see the pig as the lion! Ignore the judgements of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/ignorant-have-always-the-tendency-to-see-the-donkey-as-the-noble/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“The learned man understands the ignorant for he was once ignorant himself. The ignorant man does not understand the learned for he has never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-ibn-abi-talib/the-learned-man-understands-the-ignorant-for-he-was-once-ignorant/) [Ali ibn Abi Talib](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-ibn-abi-talib/) > [When you're first starting on a project, you feel shy because you don't know very much, and you know that you're going to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-wright/when-you-re-first-starting-on-a-project-you-feel-shy-because-you-don/) [Lawrence Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-wright/) > [“Travel brings wisdom only to the wise. It renders the ignorant more ignorant than ever. Master”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-abercrombie/travel-brings-wisdom-only-to-the-wise-it-renders-the-ignorant-more-2/) [Joe Abercrombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-abercrombie/) > [The best way to go into an unknown territory is to go in ignorant, ignorant as possible, with your mind wide open, as wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-lange/the-best-way-to-go-into-an-unknown-territory-is-to-go-in-ignorant/) [Dorothea Lange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-lange/) > [A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-newspaper-is-a-device-for-making-the-ignorant-more-ignorant-and-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/ignorance-is-of-a-peculiar-nature-once-dispelled-it-is-impossible-to-2/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans, so are ignorant so are ignorant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chanakya/those-parents-who-do-not-educate-their-sons-are-their-enemies-for-as/) [Chanakya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chanakya/) > [“Ignorance is of a peculiar nature: once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/ignorance-is-of-a-peculiar-nature-once-dispelled-it-is-impossible-to/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [“A man must be ignorant of himself before he can be ignorant of the existence of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-symington/a-man-must-be-ignorant-of-himself-before-he-can-be-ignorant-of-the/) [William Symington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-symington/) > [Travel brings wisdom only to the wise. It renders the ignorant more ignorant than ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-abercrombie/travel-brings-wisdom-only-to-the-wise-it-renders-the-ignorant-more/) [Joe Abercrombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-abercrombie/) > [“...the difference between stupid and ignorant was that ignorant could learn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-difference-between-stupid-and-ignorant-was-that-ignorant-could/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More by Frances Harper > [We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/we-are-all-bound-up-together-in-one-great-bundle-of-humanity-and/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [I belong to this race, and when it is down I belong to a down race; when it is up I belong to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/i-belong-to-this-race-and-when-it-is-down-i-belong-to-a-down-race/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [I find, by close observation, that the mothers are the levers which move in education. The men talk about it . . . but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/i-find-by-close-observation-that-the-mothers-are-the-levers-which/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [If we have had no past, it is well for us to look hopefully to the future - for the shadows bear the promise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/if-we-have-had-no-past-it-is-well-for-us-to-look-hopefully-to-the/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [I like the character of Moses. He is the first disunionist we read of in the Jewish Scriptures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/i-like-the-character-of-moses-he-is-the-first-disunionist-we-read-of/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [But two things are wanting in American civilization - a keener and deeper, broader and tenderer sense of justice - a sense of humanity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/but-two-things-are-wanting-in-american-civilization-a-keener-and/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [Every mother should endeavor to be a true artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/every-mother-should-endeavor-to-be-a-true-artist/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [I envy neither the heart nor the head of any legislator who has been born to an inheritance of privileges, who has behind him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/i-envy-neither-the-heart-nor-the-head-of-any-legislator-who-has-been/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [I do not think the mere extension of the ballot a panacea for all the ills of our national life. What we need to-day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/i-do-not-think-the-mere-extension-of-the-ballot-a-panacea-for-all-the/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [No man can feel the iron which enters another man's soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/no-man-can-feel-the-iron-which-enters-another-man-s-soul/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [My hands were weak, but I reached them out To feebler ones than mine, and over the shadow of my life Stole the light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/my-hands-were-weak-but-i-reached-them-out-to-feebler-ones-than-mine/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [True politeness is to social life what oil is to machinery, a thing to oil the ruts and grooves of existence. False politeness can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/true-politeness-is-to-social-life-what-oil-is-to-machinery-a-thing-to/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [The true aim of female education should be, not a development of one or two, but all the faculties of the human soul, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/the-true-aim-of-female-education-should-be-not-a-development-of-one/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [A room to myself is a luxury that I do not always enjoy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/a-room-to-myself-is-a-luxury-that-i-do-not-always-enjoy/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) > [The respect that is only bought by gold is not worth much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-harper/the-respect-that-is-only-bought-by-gold-is-not-worth-much/) [Frances Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) [Explore all 26 Frances Harper quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-harper/) ## More American slavery quotes > [I do think that some form of reparations for the descendants of American slavery would go a long way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-chatterton-williams/i-do-think-that-some-form-of-reparations-for-the-descendants-of/) [Thomas Chatterton Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-chatterton-williams/) > [My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/my-paramount-object-in-this-struggle-is-to-save-the-union-and-is-not/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-would-save-the-union-i-would-save-it-the-shortest-way-under-the/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/if-i-could-save-the-union-without-freeing-any-slave-i-would-do-it/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/we-all-declare-for-liberty-but-in-using-the-same-word-we-do-not-all-2/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [In every man's mind the good seeds of liberty are planted, and he who brings his fellow down so low, as to make him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-highland-garnet/in-every-man-s-mind-the-good-seeds-of-liberty-are-planted-and-he-who/) [Henry Highland Garnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-highland-garnet/) > [The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-autocrat-of-all-the-russias-will-resign-his-crown-and-proclaim/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [If any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly, those who desire it for others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/if-any-should-be-slaves-it-should-be-first-those-who-desire-it-for/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/free-labor-has-the-inspiration-of-hope-pure-slavery-has-no-hope/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“The American Anti-Slavery Society, on the other hand, said the war was “waged solely for the detestable and horrible purpose of extending and perpetuating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/the-american-anti-slavery-society-on-the-other-hand-said-the-war-was/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-world-has-never-had-a-good-definition-of-the-word-liberty-and-the/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-am-naturally-anti-slavery-if-slavery-is-not-wrong-nothing-is-wrong-2/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Lawrence Hill, a cultural and spiritual descendant of West African griots, has used his vast storytelling talents to create an epic story that spans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/afua-cooper/lawrence-hill-a-cultural-and-spiritual-descendant-of-west-african/) Afua Cooper > [“Historians who explore slavery's relationship to capitalism generally focus on the roles that men played in the development of both. But if we considered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-e-jones-rogers/historians-who-explore-slavery-s-relationship-to-capitalism-generally/) Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers > [“American Slavery, American Freedom,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-levy/american-slavery-american-freedom/) Andrew Levy [Browse all 45 American slavery quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-slavery/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is said that the Negro is ignorant. But why is he ignorant? It comes with ill grace from a man who has put out my eyes to makea parade of my blindness,--to reproach me for my poverty when he has wronged me of my money… If he is poor, what has become of the money he has been earning for the last two hundred and fifty years? Years ago it was said cotton fights and cotton conquers for American slavery. 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