Frederick Douglass's dramatic autobiographical account of his early life as a slave in America.
Born into a life of bondage, Frederick Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write. It was a crime punishable by death, but it resulted in one of the most eloquent indictments of slavery ever recorded. His gripping narrative takes us into the fields, cabins, and manors of pre–Civil War plantations in the South and reveals the daily terrors he suffered.
Written more than a century and a half ago by a Black man who went on to become a famous orator, U.S. minister to Haiti, and leader of his people, this timeless classic still speaks directly to our age. It is a record of savagery and inhumanity that goes far to explain why America still suffers from the great injustices of the past.
With an Introduction by Peter J. Gomes and an Afterword by Gregory Stephens
About the Author
FREDERICK DOUGLASS, an outspoken abolitionist, was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818 and, after his escape in 1838, repeatedly risked his own freedom as a prominent anti-slavery lecturer, writer, and publisher. After the Civil War he continued to work as a social reformer, supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices. He died in 1895.
What People Are Saying
“This narrative contains many affecting incidents, many passages of great eloquence and power…Who can read [it], and be insensible to its pathos and sublimity?” William Lloyd Garrison
“He experienced…the tyranny and circumscription of an ambitious human being who was classified as real estate.” W.E.B. DuBois