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.