--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... if you're poor and ignorant, with a…" description: "\"... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a slave. Meaning that you're never going to get out of it. These women are in bondage to a kind o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg" --- # ... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a… ![“... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a slave. Meaning that you're never going to get out of it. These women are in bondage to a kind of slavery that the 13th Amendment just didn't deal with. The old master provided food, clothing and health care to the slaves because he wanted…” quote by Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg) > “... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a slave. Meaning that you're never going to get out of it. These women are in bondage to a kind of slavery that the 13th Amendment just didn't deal with. The old master provided food, clothing and health care to the slaves because he wanted them to get up and go to work in the morning. And so on welfare: you get food, clothing and shelter--you get survival, but you can't really do anything else. You can't control your life.” [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poverty and ignorance trap people in modern, beyond legal emancipation. **In simple terms:** Poverty and ignorance create modern slavery. Key Takeaway Address systemic inequality. Themes poverty ignorance systemic oppression slavery Mood urgent empathetic Type advocacy political When to use this quote - education reform - economic empowerment - social services Key Concepts social determinants policy failure Questions to Reflect On - What policies effectively break cycles of poverty? - How to empower marginalized communities? A Different Perspective Legal fixes alone can't free people. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amendments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendments/) [Bondage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bondage/) [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Control your life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/control-your-life/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Health care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health-care/) [Morning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morning/) [Shelter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shelter/) [Slave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) [Slaves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slaves/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) [Welfare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/welfare/) ## Related quotes > [I am your child, not your slave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucila-navarro/i-am-your-child-not-your-slave/) Lucila Navarro > [“I once two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave, and also her sister. When I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-ann-jacobs/i-once-two-beautiful-children-playing-together-one-was-a-fair-white/) [Harriet Ann Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-ann-jacobs/) > [No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child ... No slave was ever so much the property of his master…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/no-social-problem-is-as-universal-as-the-oppression-of-the-child-no/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/knowledge-unfits-a-child-to-be-a-slave/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [When I was 12, I read about Iqbal Masih, a child slave who escaped the carpet factory where he'd been chained to a loom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-kielburger/when-i-was-12-i-read-about-iqbal-masih-a-child-slave-who-escaped-the/) [Craig Kielburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-kielburger/) > [If you can't control your reproduction, you can't control your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/if-you-can-t-control-your-reproduction-you-can-t-control-your-life/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [I prefer to work in the morning. I get up now at five in the morning. In the morning is when I feel freshest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-prefer-to-work-in-the-morning-i-get-up-now-at-five-in-the-morning/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [You will live as you live anywhere. With difficulty, and grief. Yes, you are dead. And I and my family and everyone, always, forever.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/you-will-live-as-you-live-anywhere-with-difficulty-and-grief-yes-you/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [“What makes Pixar special is that we acknowledge we will always have problems, many of them hidden from our view; that we work hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-catmull/what-makes-pixar-special-is-that-we-acknowledge-we-will-always-have-3/) [Ed Catmull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-catmull/) > [A lot of people think Formula One isn't a sport because everyone drives a car when they go to work in the morning. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenson-button/a-lot-of-people-think-formula-one-isn-t-a-sport-because-everyone/) [Jenson Button](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenson-button/) > [“There's a hazardous sadness to the first sounds of someone else's work in the morning; it's as if stillness experiences pain in being broken.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-franzen/there-s-a-hazardous-sadness-to-the-first-sounds-of-someone-else-s/) [Jonathan Franzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-franzen/) > [I love to cook. In fact, at this exact moment, I am trying something new: I am cooking a whole chicken in my crockpot,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-grace/i-love-to-cook-in-fact-at-this-exact-moment-i-am-trying-something-new/) [Nancy Grace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-grace/) > [Yes, I am thoroughly enjoying retirement! The best part is observing my neighbors drive off to work in the morning knowing that that their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-kalmar/yes-i-am-thoroughly-enjoying-retirement-the-best-part-is-observing-my/) Bill Kalmar > [I'm a big Sunday guy. I'll do some wood work in the morning, making tables, cutting boards, desks, whatever with my buddy Adam. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-leone/i-m-a-big-sunday-guy-i-ll-do-some-wood-work-in-the-morning-making/) [Brad Leone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-leone/) > [You don't have to go to the kings and queens of the earth - I think the Greeks and Elizabethans did this because it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-hansberry/you-don-t-have-to-go-to-the-kings-and-queens-of-the-earth-i-think-the/) [Lorraine Hansberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-hansberry/) ## More by Joycelyn Elders > [The best contraceptive in the world is a good education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/the-best-contraceptive-in-the-world-is-a-good-education/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [Once I had a professor say to me, "You know you have as much education as a lot of white people." I answered, "Doctor,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/once-i-had-a-professor-say-to-me-you-know-you-have-as-much-education/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [Handguns are a public health issue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/handguns-are-a-public-health-issue/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [ \[On masturbation:\] I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/on-masturbation-i-think-that-it-is-part-of-human-sexuality-and/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [I think we should have a very, very heavy tax on handguns and on bullets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/i-think-we-should-have-a-very-very-heavy-tax-on-handguns-and-on/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [“We have a multiheaded dragon in our midst that for too long has been waging a domestic war on our young, our poor, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/we-have-a-multiheaded-dragon-in-our-midst-that-for-too-long-has-been/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [... black women have always found that in the social order of things we're the least likely to be believed--by anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/black-women-have-always-found-that-in-the-social-order-of-things-we/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [You can't keep an ignorant population healthy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/you-can-t-keep-an-ignorant-population-healthy/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [Everybody's got to die from somethin'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/everybody-s-got-to-die-from-somethin/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [ \[We must\] deal with all of the contributing factors to gun violence as a whole, because it's like a leaky bucket - if you've… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/we-must-deal-with-all-of-the-contributing-factors-to-gun-violence-as/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [You can't educate people that are not healthy. But you certainly can't keep them healthy if they're not educated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/you-can-t-educate-people-that-are-not-healthy-but-you-certainly-can-t/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [As long as I was in Washington I never met anybody that I thought was good enough, who knew enough, or who loved enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/as-long-as-i-was-in-washington-i-never-met-anybody-that-i-thought-was/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [I came there as prime steak and now I feel like low-grade hamburger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/i-came-there-as-prime-steak-and-now-i-feel-like-low-grade-hamburger/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [Health is more than the absence of disease. Health is about jobs and employment, education, the environment, and all of those things that go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/health-is-more-than-the-absence-of-disease-health-is-about-jobs-and/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) > [Health is more than absence of disease; it is about economics, education, environment, empowerment, and community. The health and well being of the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/health-is-more-than-absence-of-disease-it-is-about-economics/) [Joycelyn Elders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) [Explore all 56 Joycelyn Elders quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/) ## More Amendments quotes > [This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-separation-was-absolute-in-our-original-republic-but-the-sky/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The First Amendment makes confidence in the common sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgement the great postulate of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/the-first-amendment-makes-confidence-in-the-common-sense-of-our/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) > [Anybody who pretends that how you read the 10th and 11th Amendment doesn't have a fundamental impact on the things we care about is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/anybody-who-pretends-that-how-you-read-the-10th-and-11th-amendment/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [I have a lot of guns on my ranch. I don't use them for hunting. I'm not a hunter. It's for protection. The Second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-norris/i-have-a-lot-of-guns-on-my-ranch-i-don-t-use-them-for-hunting-i-m-not/) [Chuck Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-norris/) > [All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/all-human-situations-have-their-inconveniences-we-feel-those-of-the/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/if-in-the-opinion-of-the-people-the-distribution-or-modification-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [The First Amendment exists to protect our religious liberty--to ensure that all Americans are able to seek out worship God with all our hearts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-cruz/the-first-amendment-exists-to-protect-our-religious-liberty-to-ensure/) [Ted Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-cruz/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,... The people are confirmed by the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tench-coxe/as-civil-rulers-not-having-their-duty-to-the-people-duly-before-them/) [Tench Coxe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tench-coxe/) > [The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-kennedy/the-lessons-of-the-first-amendment-are-as-urgent-in-the-modern-world/) [Anthony Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-kennedy/) > [The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/the-american-people-intuitively-understand-this-which-is-why-the/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence, far removed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/i-think-the-reality-is-that-copyright-law-has-for-a-very-long-time/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/what-country-can-preserve-its-liberties-if-its-rulers-are-not-warned/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The First Amendment defends all forms of speech including hate speech, which is why groups like Ku Klux Klan are allowed to utter their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-first-amendment-defends-all-forms-of-speech-including-hate-speech/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [The Second Amendment has no place in modern society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-dershowitz/the-second-amendment-has-no-place-in-modern-society/) [Alan Dershowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-dershowitz/) [Browse all 709 Amendments quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendments/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a slave. Meaning that you're never going to get out of it. These women are in bondage to a kind of slavery that the 13th Amendment just didn't deal with. The old master provided food, clothing and health care to the slaves because he wanted them to get up and go to work in the morning. And so on welfare: you get food, clothing and shelter--you get survival, but you can't really do anything else. You can't control your life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joycelyn Elders" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child-you-re-a-slave-meaning-that/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Amendments" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child-you-re-a-slave-meaning-that/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f2/joycelyn-elders-12167_amendments_if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child_2749761.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“... if you're poor and ignorant, with a child, you're a slave. Meaning that you're never going to get out of…” — Joycelyn Elders", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Joycelyn Elders", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joycelyn-elders/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "... if you're poor and ignorant,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child-you-re-a-slave-meaning-that/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joycelyn-elders/if-you-re-poor-and-ignorant-with-a-child-you-re-a-slave-meaning-that/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```