Unexpected shards of this work: Mr. Douglass wrote this at the age of 27, seven years after escaping slavery. Most photos I've seen of him are at an older age, which might explain my assuming he wrote this later in life. The power and passion and plea of his words would be no less resonant if this were the case, and I'm not sure why the image of a young man writing them instead struck me to such a degree, but it did. Another unexpected shard: the nuances of his persuasion include not only this is what is being done to black human beings in your country; please do something about it but also and we feel it as strongly as you would feel it, were it done to you. That the latter has to be stated is haunting and heinous beyond words. What strength this man had.