Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

A new Vintage Classics edition of the abolitionist leader’s classic autobiography.
 
This dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave was first published in 1845, when its young author had just achieved his freedom. Frederick Douglass’s childhood in Maryland was marked by tragedy, physical abuse, and deprivation; he had limited contact with his mother and no knowledge of his father (who might have been his owner), and he regularly endured brutal beatings. Yet despite his harrowing experiences, through determination and sheer force of character he was able to secretly acquire literacy and eventually escape to the North, where he became a forceful and dazzling proponent of abolition. In telling his personal story, Douglass gives eloquent expression to the principles that made him the first great African-American leader in the United States.

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.