> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 January 2015
  • ISBN: 9781473512559
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 128

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave





Frederick Douglass was a key figure in helping to secure the abolition of slavery in America – discover his Narrative on the 150th anniversary of that event.


Frederick Douglass was a key figure in helping to secure the abolition of slavery in America – discover his Narrative.

A masterpiece … [Douglass] was not only self-educated, with a love of language which should still be an inspiration; he was also self-created’ New York Times

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. After his escape in 1838 he became an ardent abolitionist, and his autobiography was an instant bestseller upon publication in 1845. In it he describes with harrowing honesty his life as a slave – the cruelty he suffered at the hands of plantation owners; his struggles to educate himself in a world where slaves are deliberately kept ignorant; and ultimately, his fight for his right to freedom. A passionately written, intelligent and highly emotive indictment of slavery, his principle preoccupation was that slavery could be eradicated only through education. This text was key in helping to secure its eventual abolition.

  • Published: 1 January 2015
  • ISBN: 9781473512559
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 128

About the author

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

FREDERICK DOUGLASS was one of the foremost leaders
of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery
within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil
War. When the American Anti-Slavery Society engaged him
on a tour of lectures, he became one of America's first great
black speakers. He won world fame with his first
autobiography, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
FREDERICK DOUGLAS (1845). Two years later he began
publishing an antislavery paper called the North Star.
Douglass served as an adviser to President Lincoln during
the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional
amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil
liberties for blacks. He is still revered today for his fight
against racial injustice.

Also by FREDERICK DOUGLASS

See all

Praise for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

Frederick Douglass has been hailed as one of history's most inspirational leaders and is a personal hero of Barack Obama who called him "the father of the civil rights movement"

Mirror

His life retains an emblematic glow transcending its biographical ingredients

Independent

Slavery, color, racism and the struggle for equal rights all come together in the Douglass story...a declaration of freedom by a runaway slave that became a powerful antislavery tract

New York Times
penguin pop image
penguin pop image