How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #1
The white people gathered round the altar, the blacks clustered by the door. After the good minister had served out the bread and wine to one portion of those near him, he said, "These may withdraw, and others come forward;" thus he proceeded till all the white members had been served. Then he took a long breath, and looking out towards the door, exclaimed, "Come up, colored friends, come up! for you know God is no respecter of persons!" (3-5)
The sad thing is, this minister probably thought he was being progressive and accepting. Unfortunately, what he's really saying is, "God doesn't care that you're black."
If you're a person of color, you may have experienced something similar because, sadly enough, we didn't leave this kind of language behind in the 19th century. If you're white, take a sec to think about how it would feel if someone told you, "God doesn't care that you're white."
Quote #2
Now it so happened that next to her sat a young lady who had been converted at the same time, baptized in the same water, and put her trust in the same blessed Saviour; yet when the cup containing the precious blood which had been shed for all, came to her, she rose in disdain, and walked out of the church. Such was the religion she had experienced! (12-13)
Two girls become Christians at the same time, and then the white one refuses to drink from the same communion cup as the black one. This precedes debates over "colored" versus "white" water fountains by about a hundred years. If you can't share the blood of Christ, Douglass might ask, how can you expect to share a water fountain?
Quote #3
But there was one good old lady whose curiosity went beyond that of all the others—and she inquired of the girl that had the vision, if she saw any black folks in heaven? After some hesitation, the reply was, "Oh! I didn't go into the kitchen!" (17-18)
Every church has at least one person like this—she's not afraid to say what she's thinking, even if everyone else is thinking, "Hush, Grandma!" At first listen, many of Douglass' listeners might have laughed at this. After all, Douglass sets it up like the punch line to a bad joke.
Maybe because it is kind of a bad joke. The white girl expects that if there were any black people in heaven, they would still be "kept in their place"—not fully taking part in society, but serving and staying out of sight in the heavenly kitchen.
Quote #4
Thus you see, my hearers, this prejudice goes even into the church of God. And there are those who carry it so far that it is disagreeable to them even to think of going to heaven, if colored people are going there too. And whence comes it? The grand cause is slavery; but there are others less prominent; one of them is the way in which children in this part of the country are instructed to regard the blacks. (19-22)
This is the point where Douglass begins to connect the three major themes of the speech (prejudice, religion, and slavery). He's turning from his examples of prejudice experienced in church to talk about the source of that prejudice.
Quote #5
Yet people in general will say they like colored men as well as any other, but in their proper place! They assign us that place; they don't let us do it for ourselves, nor will they allow us a voice in the decision. They will not allow that we have a head to think, and a heart to feel, and a soul to aspire. They treat us not as men, but as dogs—they cry "Stu-boy!" and expect us to run and do their bidding. That's the way we are liked. (24-28)
Plenty of people did say things like this at the time: "Sure, I'm fine with black people as long as they stay in their place." And other people—in the North and the South—kept saying them right on through the 20th century.
Some people are still saying this kind of thing, and not just about people of other races. People in the LGBT community, women, immigrants—we could go on—are also used to this kind of talk.