W. E. B. Du Bois

Negroes could be sold - actually sold as we sell cattle, with no reference to calves or bulls or recognition of family. It was a nasty business. The white South was properly ashamed of it and continually belittled and almost denied it. But it was a stark and bitter fact.

American Writer

Harriet Ann Jacobs

If you want to be fully convinced of the abominations of slavery, go on a southern plantation, and call yourself a negro trader. Then there will be no concealment; and you will see and hear things that will seem to you impossible among human beings with immortal souls.

John Sergeant Wise

Even if my mother had no qualms of conscience concerning ownership of negroes, her sense of duty carried her far beyond the mere supplying of their physical needs, or requiring that they render faithful service.

American Author

Fanny Kemble

In the north we could not hope to keep the worst and poorest servant for a single day in the wretched discomfort in which our negro servants are forced habitually to live.

English Actress

Ida B. Wells

The negro has suffered far more from the commission of this crime against the women of his race by white men than the white race has ever suffered through his crimes.

American Activist

Stephen Douglas

Slavery is not the only question which comes up in this controversy. There is a far more important one to you, and that is, what shall be done with the free negro?

American Politician

Carter G. Woodson

Negroes who have been so long inconvenienced and denied opportunities for development are naturally afraid of anything that sounds like discrimination.

American Historian

John H. Reagan

The people of the Southern States now own near five millions of these negroes, and they are worth to them near three millions of dollars.

A. Philip Randolph

Negroes are in no mood to shoulder guns for democracy abroad while they are denied democracy here at home.

Ethel Waters

Negroes are human beings with exactly the same faults and virtues as members of the other races.

American Musician

The term 'negro' is considered outdated and potentially offensive; use 'black person' instead.

Outdated Usage

Always be culturally sensitive when referring to race; many prefer 'African American' or their specific nationality.

Cultural Sensitivity

Understand the historical context; 'negro' was used during a time of racial inequality in the US.

Historical Context

The word 'Negro' as a river refers specifically to a geographical feature in South America.

Geography Specific

When talking about the river, 'Negro' has no racial connotations; it's a name, not a descriptor.

Non-Racial Meaning

'Negro' in academic contexts refers to a historical period of African-American culture and is not derogatory.

Academic Reference

Learning about Negro culture and history provides insight into the contributions of African Americans.

Cultural Richness

 street a block or so in that direction a church where a negro leaders pleaded for peace and were rejected found that way the busy intersection where cars were overturned and burned where other cars were stoned where a television technician was pulled from his wagon and almost beaten to death

LA92 Panel - Live PIPE...

 and he was a well-known expert on what was then called "Negro medicine." He promoted the racial concept of disease, that people of different races suffer from different diseases and experience common diseases differently.