The ground which a colored man occupies in this country is, every inch of it, sternly disputed.

Douglass is describing the relentless resistance Black Americans face when they claim ordinary rights—work, education, safety, political voice, and simple dignity. “Every inch” suggests there is no neutral ground: any advance, however small, is met by contestation from laws, customs, and violence designed to keep racial hierarchy intact. The phrase also implies that progress is not granted but fought for, and that the struggle is structural rather than merely personal prejudice. In Douglass’s broader thought, this observation supports his insistence on organized agitation and political action: if the terrain is “sternly disputed,” then freedom and equality require sustained pressure, not patience or appeals to goodwill alone.