Frederick Douglass

Tämä teos on ainutlaatuinen dokumentti orjan elämästä ja samalla katsaus Yhdysvaltain historian pimeään puoleen. Amerikkalaisen orjan omaelämäkerta on afroamerikkalaisen kirjallisuuden kiistaton klassikko. Frederic Douglass syntyi Marylandissa vuoden 1818 paikkeilla. Hänen äitinsä oli musta orja, isä taas valkoinen mies – mahdollisesti hänen isäntänsä. Poika erotettiin äidistään jo varhain ja hänet annettiin isoäitinsä kasvatettavaksi. 7-vuotiaana Douglass aloitti työt eversti Lloydin plantaasilla, missä hän joutui lukuisien julmuuksien todistajaksi. Pian hänet kuitenkin siirrettiin kaupunkiorjaksi Baltimoreen, missä elämä osoittautui helpommaksi. Nuorukainen tuli elämänsä käännekohtaan, kun hän oppi monien vaikeuksien kautta salaa lukemaan. Orjien lukemaan opettaminen oli tuohon aikaan laitonta. Lukutaidon myötä Douglass tutustui orjuudenvastaiseen liikehdintään, kyseenalaisti oman asemansa elinikäisenä orjana ja ryhtyi suunnittelemaan pakoa pohjoiseen. Monien mutkien kautta hänen onnistui lopulta paeta tulevan vaimonsa, vapaan mustan naisen avustuksella New Yorkiin vuonna 1838. Vuonna 1841 Douglass ryhtyi aktiiviseksi orjuuden vastustajaksi ja kirjoitti omelämäkertansa. Amerikkalaisen orjan omaelämäkerta kertoo Douglassin elämästä kronologisesti syntymästä vapautumiseen asti. Vaikka hänen kokemuksensa orjuudesta ovat julmia, hänen ihmiskuvansa on säilynyt humaanina. Näkökulman henkilökohtaisuudesta huolimatta hän osaa nivoa oman elämätarinansa aikansa yhteiskunnalliseen kontekstiin sekä valaista orjuuden aatteellisia ja lainsäädännöllisiä taustoja.

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 as a slave. Written more than a century and a half ago by an African-American 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"

Two great works of African-American literature come together in an omnibus edition that includes the autobiography of the famous abolitionist and statesman who escaped to the North after twenty-one years of enslavement, as well as an account that reveals the exploitation of African American female slaves through first-person narrative. Reader's Guide included. Reprint.

Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work. Frederick Douglass's powerful autobiographical account of life in bondage, his triumphant escape to freedom, and his analysis of slavery as a condition. Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author's personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research. Read with confidence.

With the publication of My Bondage and My Freedom inAugust 1855, former Maryland slave Frederick Douglass became the first black person to join a very select company of Americans to publish a second and entirely new autobiography. In the decade that had elapsed since Douglass wrote Narrative, he had become an accomplished journalist, adopted philosophical and political principles that would have been heretical in 1845, and risen to key leadership positions in the northern free black and American reform communities. This new edition of My Bondage and My Freedom, with a substantial introduction and extensive annotations, enables both scholars and general readers to appreciate a remarkable instance of the art of autobiography as well as a milestone in African-American intellectual achievement.

Raised as a plantation slave, Douglass went on to become a writer, orator, and major participant in the struggle for African-American freedom and equality. In this engrossing narrative he recounts early years of abuse; his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom, abolitionist campaigns, and his crusade for full civil rights for former slaves.

Representative selections from the great body of speeches and writings of the great abolitionist and statesman focus on the slave trade, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, suffrage for African-Americans, reconstruction in the South, and other issues as vital to the present as they were to the times in which Douglass lived.