The Same Narrow Examination

"We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination. Silvery-headed age and sprightly youth, maids and matrons, had to undergo the same inspection. At this moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder."

[Source: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" by Frederick Douglas.]