Frederick Douglass

My Bondage and My Freedom is the second of three published autobiographies from one of the most brilliant and eloquent abolitionists and human rights activists in American history. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was published ten years before in 1845, while The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass was published twenty-five years later.

Written ten years after his legal emancipation, MY BONDAGE AND MY FREEDOM catapulted Frederick Douglass into the international spotlight as a leading spokesperson for American blacks, both freed and in slavery. This, Douglass's second autobiography, was written during his celebrated career as a speaker and newpaper editor, and reveals a mature and forceful character utterly committed to the fight for equal rights and liberties.

Frederick Douglass, (1817-1895), was the leading spokesman for African Americans in the 1800's. Born a slave, Douglass became a noted reformer, author, and speaker. He devoted his life to the abolition of slavery and the fight for black rights. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Tuckahoe, MD. He changed his name to Douglass to avoid capture after he fled from his master in 1838. He arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts and because he was a black man, could only find work as an unskilled laborer. His life changed from that of an unskilled laborer to sought-after speaker when the Massachusetts Antislavery Society hired him as a lecturer. Frederick Douglass was an outspoken pioneer in the anti-slavery movement. He protested the discriminatory practices of segregated employment, education, worship and public transportation. His house was a station on the Underground Railroad. He conferred with Abraham Lincoln on several occasions and helped recruit African Americans for the Union Army during the Civil War. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is the expanded version of the autobiography he published in England.

The powerful story of slavery that has become a classic of American autobiography, in an authoritative edition “This edition is the most valuable teaching tool on slavery and abolition available today. It is exceptional.”—Nancy Hewitt, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Rutgers University The autobiography of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, is widely regarded as a classic of American nineteenth-century history, of African-American studies, and of literature. In 1845, just seven years after his escape from slavery, the young Douglass published this powerful account of his life as a slave and his triumph over oppression. The book, which marked the beginning of Douglass’s career as an impassioned writer, journalist, and orator for the abolitionist cause, reveals the terrors he faced as a slave, the brutalities of his owners and overseers, and his harrowing escape to the North. This edition of the book, based on the authoritative text that appears in Yale University Press’s multivolume edition of the Frederick Douglass Papers, is the only edition of Douglass’s Narrative designated as an Approved Text by the Modern Language Association’s Committee on Scholarly Editions. It includes a chronology of Douglass’s life, a thorough introduction by the eminent Douglass scholar John Blassingame, historical notes, and reader responses to the first edition of 1845. “None so dramatically as Douglass integrated both the horror and the great quest of the African-American experience into the deep stream of American autobiography. He advanced and extended that tradition and is rightfully designated one of its greatest practitioners.”—John W. Blassingame, from the introduction

This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition combines the two most important African American slave narratives into one volume. Frederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1861 she published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, now recognized as the most comprehensive antebellum slave narrative written by a woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves, and it remains crucial reading. These narratives illuminate and inform each other. This edition includes an incisive Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah and extensive annotations.

The progress of his life from a slave to a leader in the movements for emancipation and Black labor are recounted by this nineteenth-century Black leader

This Eloquent and dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave was first published in 1845, when its author was twenty eight years old & had just achieved his freedom. Although it was not uncommon during the era of American slavery for articulate Blacks who escaped to have their experiences published, Narraive Of The Life & Times Of Frederick Douglass is unique among these slave narratives because of Douglass's eloquent power of expression.

The impassioned abolitionist and eloquent orator provides graphic descriptions of his childhood and horrifying experiences as a slave as well as a harrowing record of his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom. Published in 1845 to quell doubts about his origins, the Narrative is admired today for its extraordinary passion, sensitive descriptions, and storytelling power.

This is the first annotated edition of a work Eric J. Sundquist has called "a classic text of the American Renaissance." As Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has pointed out, My Bondage and My Freedom has been largely ignored by critics, in part because it is longer and less accessible than Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass but also because it has not up to now been "read" by a sensitive critic. "The latter reason is paramount and urgently needed to be addressed, and William Andrews is just the person to introduce Douglass's second autobiography to our generation of readers. He has few peers in nineteenth-century black criticism."

Complete African-American Classic Three Book Set, includes The Souls of Black Folk, Up From Slavery, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The foundational civil rights works on race relations in America, the slave narratives, in their own voices. This is their story in one volume. From The Souls of Black Folk: "Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century.... I have sought here to sketch, in vague, uncertain outline, the spiritual world in which ten thousand thousand Americans live and strive." From Up From Slavery: "I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed." From the 1845 text Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: "My mother was named Harriet Bailey." "My father was a white man." "I have had two masters." "...my escape from slavery." All students of thought should get this historic set. This edition is provided in a slim volume with full text at an affordable price. TABLE OF CONTENTSTHE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK 3UP FROM SLAVERY 91NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 181

Complete African-American Classic Three Book Set, includes The Souls of Black Folk, Up From Slavery, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The foundational civil rights works on race relations in America, the slave narratives, in their own voices. This is their story in one volume. From The Souls of Black Folk: "Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century.... I have sought here to sketch, in vague, uncertain outline, the spiritual world in which ten thousand thousand Americans live and strive." From Up From Slavery: "I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed." From the 1845 text Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: "My mother was named Harriet Bailey." "My father was a white man." "I have had two masters." "...my escape from slavery." All students of thought should get this historic set. This edition is provided in a slim volume with full text at an affordable price. TABLE OF CONTENTSTHE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK 3UP FROM SLAVERY 91NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 181

"Liberty I will have, or die in the attempt to gain it... I have nothing to lose. If I am caught, I shall only be a slave. If I am shot, I shall only lose a life which is a burden and a curse. If I get clear, liberty, the inalienable birth-right of every man, precious and priceless, will be mine. My resolution is fixed. I shall be free."-Frederick Douglass, The Heroic SlaveThe Heroic Slave (1845), Frederick Douglass's only published work of fiction, is based on an actual event in which an enslaved cook and 19 other slaves captured a ship and ordered it to the Bahamas, where they and the rest of the slaves on board were freed. At the time he wrote it, Douglass, an abolitionist leader, had begun to advocate the use of violence to end slavery. By glorifying these rebellious slaves, Douglass addressed readers not only about engaging in the abolitionist movement but about supporting the right to apply force to end slavery.

Uncensored, original 1845 text of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The passionate man labeled as the "most influential African American of the nineteenth century." This is his voice. This is his story. Eleven chapters give the factual account of his life up to that point. "My mother was named Harriet Bailey." "My father was a white man." "I have had two masters." ..".my escape from slavery." Read of his inspirational life in this unabridged, historic reproduction offered at an affordable price.