Quote of the Day for 2016-08-15

"The sword was given for this, that none need live a slave."

— Lucan (39-65 CE) Pharsalia, book 4, line 579 (61 CE) as translated by J.D. Duff

Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, Fort Lincoln, District of Columbia (circa 1863) Photo by William Morris Smith

Quote of the Day for 2016-08-14

"The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave."

— Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) Some Mistakes of Moses, chapter 3 (1879)

"Moment of Joy" cover by Jack Hunter for The New Yorker (July 8 & 15, 2013) after the Supreme Court ruled against DOMA and Proposition 8 (June 26, 2013)

Quote of the Day for 2016-03-03

"What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession? This reason may be summed up in one single proposition. It was a conviction; a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery."

— Henry L. Benning (1814-1875) Speech before the Virginia Secession Convention, February 18, 1861

Slaves of General Thomas F. Drayton (1862) Photograph by Henry P. Moore