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Harriet: [addressing the Colored Union regiment] Suppose there's a snake coiled at your feet, and it shoots up to bite you. Folks get scared and send for a doctor to cut out the bite. But the snake, he rolled up there and while the doctor cutting, he bites you again, in a new place this time. The doctor makes another cut, the snake spring up and bites again. Finally you realize the snake ain't gonna stop till someone kills him. Slavery is still alive. Those rice fields downriver are feeding Rebel troops, with the toil of a thousand slaves still in bondage. Our mission is to free those slaves. We've waited years to be allowed to fight in this war, against our own enslavement. And it will not be won without us! Now is our time! Are you ready to kill the snake?
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Edward Brodess: What's this here nigger talking about?
Antonio J Bell
Extended Reading
