Books by Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass's Narrative recounts his life as a slave in Maryland and escape to freedom in 1838. An important slave autobiography, it is significant both for what it tells us about slave life and about its author. It is here reprinted with contexualizing source material and other writings by Douglass, as well as an introduction discussing its literary and historical significance.

DISCOVER ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS OF SLAVERY IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAOne of history's greatest crimes, the American slave trade led to the suffering of untold numbers of men and women. But how can we better understand the lives and experiences of those who endured it?Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a harrowing first hand look at the brutal indignities of slavery in the nineteenth century, and the society that allowed it to happen. To better understand our shared present, we need to fully grapple with our difficult past. Douglass' Narrative is a key piece of that puzzle.An insightful introduction by Debra Newman Ham, a former Black history archivist for the Library of Congress, analyzes the text and looks at the key events in Douglass' life.

My Bondage and My Freedom is the second of Frederick Douglass's full-length autobiographies. An important slave autobiography, it is significant both for what it tells us about slave life and about its author.

Dette er en øjenvidneberetning om livet som slave i de amerikanske sydstater. Den er fortalt af Frederick Douglass, der selv var født til en slavetilværelse, men i en ung alder havde held til at flygte til nordstaterne. Her skrev han denne lille selvbiografi, der var med til at åbne amerikanernes øjne for slavesystemets ufattelige brutalitet.Bogen gjorde med et slag Frederick Douglass berømt, og han brugte resten af sit liv på at kæmpe mod slaveriet og for borgerrettigheder. Han, den tidligere slave, blev på den måde den første, centrale skikkelse i de sorte amerikaneres kamp for frihed og endte med at have sin gang i magtens korridorer i Washington.’En amerikansk slaves beretning er en klassiker’, og det er en bog, der kalder på følelserne. Den er vred, smertefuld, sørgelig, uudholdelig, varm og sine steder morsom. Men først og fremmest er den vedkommende, og den tegner med sin enkle stil og mange levende detaljer fra hverdagen et nærgående og indimellem overraskende portræt af en historie, vi alle sammen troede, vi kendte."Lad det være sagt straks: Hvis man kun vil læse én bog om slavernes vilkår i USA, så er Frederick Douglass’ lille selvbiografi et oplagt valg. … Sammenligningen med Solsjenitsyns 'En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv' ligger lige for, og det er ubegribeligt, at Douglass' klassiker først nu er oversat til dansk." ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Søren Nielsen, Politiken"Det er en bevægende historie, der siden har været referencepunkt for sorte politikere som Martin Luther King og Barack Obama. Med udgivelsen af sin beretning – og de følgende års mange publikationer – kom Douglass til at stå som et levende eksempel på berettigelsen af den frie sorte mand som medborger i det amerikanske samfund.For første gang foreligger Douglass' beretning nu på dansk; oversat af Hans-Jørgen Birkmose, der også har forsynet bogen med et glimrende efterskrift. (...)Det er en fremragende bog, der fortjener sin særstatus i den afroamerikanske kanon."Ulrik Langen, Weekendavisen "Den er fyldt med grusomme beretninger om sadistiske slaveejere, der piskede og ydmygede slaverne. Og om den stemning af total underkuelse, der herskede blandt de sorte. Skriftet er skrevet på en ligefrem måde og dets historier er lige så bevægende, som da bogen blev udgivet og vakte stor opsigt. Der er på alle måder en anbefalelsesværdig bog, der kan læses af såvel ældre som unge."Bent Blüdnikow, Berlingske Tidende*****"Et let tilgængeligt, men ikke desto mindre overmåde væsentligt dokument. (...)1845-historien er en utrolig og glødende historie. Douglass forsøger ikke at gradbøje ordet bestialsk. Det er groft, som det er, og det var, hvad slaveejerne var. (...)Hertil kommer et glimrende afrundende efterskrift af oversætteren Hans-Jørgen Birkmose, som i øvrigt skal roses for at yde Frederick Douglass' ligefremme og karske sprog i beretningen og hans retoriske præstation i 1876-talen fuld retfærdighed."****Per Pilekjær, Nordjyske Stiftstidende"Man fyldes med vrede, væmmelse og tristhed. Til gengæld opløftes man af Douglass ' ukuelige kampånd. 'En amerikansk slaves beretning' er et sammenhængende, stærkt, harmdirrende indigneret og stolt værk, der for nutidens læsere både skal læses for den utrolige historie men også som baggrund for de raceproblemer, der stadig præger USA i dag."******Thomas Ærvold Bjerre, Fyens Stiftstidende "Beretningen er gruopvækkende, bevægende og meget reflektererende over slavesystemet. Den kan varmt anbefales og kan nemt læses af elever."******Helle Askgaard, Gymnasieskolen"Her i avisen bragte vi for nogle år siden en artikelserie om bøger, der har ændret historiens gang. Douglass var ikke inkluderet, men til denne kategori hører afgjort " En amerikansk slaves beretning"." Michael Bach Henriksen, Kristeligt Dagblad

‘Abolition Fanaticism in New York’ is a speech written by Douglass and delivered in 1847.Proving that the pen can be mightier than the sword, Douglass deftly used his linguistic abilities to create a rousing appeal to the English to shame America into abolishing slavery. Witty, moving, and always intelligent, this is a superb read for anyone with an interest in one of America’s most unsung heroes. Frederick Douglass (1818-1995) was an American abolitionist and author. Born into slavery in Maryland, he was of African, European, and Native American descent. He was separated from his mother at a young age and lived with his grandmother until he was moved to another plantation. Frederick was taught his alphabet by the wife of one of his owners, a knowledge he passed on to other slaves. In 1838, he successfully escaped slavery by jumping on a north-bound train. After less than 24 hours, he was in New York and free. The same year, he married the woman that had inspired his run for freedom and started working actively as a social reformer, orator, statesman, and women’s rights defender. He remains most known today for his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave".

The second of Douglass’ three autobiographies, ‘My Bondage and My Freedom’ details his transition from youth to adulthood, while under the bonds of slavery. Even when he manages to escape, he discovers that his struggles to be treated and seen as an equal aren’t over, even when he reaches the apparently-libertarian Northern states.Unflinching in his recollections of brutality and psychological torment, Douglass paints a picture composed of sadness, anger, and compassion. A stunning and important work. 'My Bondage and My Freedom' should be read by anyone and everyone. Frederick Douglass (1818-1995) was an American abolitionist and author. Born into slavery in Maryland, he was of African, European, and Native American descent. He was separated from his mother at a young age and lived with his grandmother until he was moved to another plantation. Frederick was taught his alphabet by the wife of one of his owners, a knowledge he passed on to other slaves. In 1838, he successfully escaped slavery by jumping on a north-bound train. After less than 24 hours, he was in New York and free.The same year, he married the woman that had inspired his run for freedom and started working actively as a social reformer, orator, statesman, and women’s rights defender. He remains most known today for his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

Written to honour the life of the eponymous abolitionist and activist, ‘John Brown’ is the transcript of a speech delivered by Douglass in 1860. While some saw Brown as a radical and a criminal, Douglass saw his friend as a man prepared to sacrifice his life so that others might be free. Passionate and powerful, the speech not only extolls Brown’s virtues, but also highlights the political and social issues faced by African Americans at the time. ´John Brown´ is an important read for anyone with an interest in social justice and injustice.Frederick Douglass (1818-1995) was an American abolitionist and author. Born into slavery in Maryland, he was of African, European, and Native American descent. He was separated from his mother at a young age and lived with his grandmother until he was moved to another plantation. Frederick was taught his alphabet by the wife of one of his owners, a knowledge he passed on to other slaves. In 1838, he successfully escaped slavery by jumping on a north-bound train. After less than 24 hours, he was in New York and free. The same year, he married the woman that had inspired his run for freedom and started working actively as a social reformer, orator, statesman, and women’s rights defender. He remains most known today for his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

"We've railed against injustice for decade upon decade, a lifetime of struggle and progress and enlightenment that we see etched in Fredrick Douglass's mighty, leonine gaze." -Barack Obama"My Bondage and my Freedom, besides giving a fresh impulse to antislavery literature, shows upon its pages the untiring industry of the ripe scholar."-William Wells BrownMy Bondage and my Freedom (1845), a classic of American History writing and one of the most influential and ennobling autobiographies ever written, was composed while Fredrick Douglas was at his heights as an orator and writer. At the time of writing, Douglass had also reached the pinnacle of his work as a leader in the abolitionist movement and as an influential newspaper publisher. This incisive and eloquent book is at once an extraordinary story of resilience and a meditation on power, education, and freedom. The depictions of Fredrick Douglass's early life on a Maryland slave plantation, the series of relocations and abuses under various overseers, and his eventual freedom are an extraordinarily vivid portrait of the United States leading up to the beginning of the Civil War. My Bondage and my Freedom is a brilliant account of a singular life and as well as a scathing reproach to one of the darkest episodes of American history. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of My Bondage and my Freedom is both modern and readable.

First appearing in 1845 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, with its painfully vivid depiction of life in bondage, was both a bestseller in its day and one of the most powerful, authoritative texts lending support to the abolitionist movement. The author traces his life from an infant born into slavery and taken from his mother at birth, to a displaced child hungry for knowledge, to an abused and beaten laborer seeking freedom and a chance to marry the woman he loved. Offering bright, cameo glimpses into a world that should not be forgotten, Douglass chronicles both the cruel violence of a system that saw him as little more than livestock, and the brighter moments of success, of courageous support from friends and allies. Initially greeted by some with doubt that it could have been written by a black man and former slave, the book had a profound effect on American society, making the author something of a celebrity and his cause less an abstract ideal and more of an urgent human concern. Solemn, powerful and passionate The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is more than an important historical document-it is a personal account of striving for human freedom in a world where the author was regarded as neither free nor human.With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is both modern and readable.

The eloquent and defiant writings of the great American freedom fighter, selected by his Pulitzer Prize-winning biographerFrederick Douglass was one of the greatest orators and essayists in American history. While toiling as an enslaved laborer in the Baltimore shipyards he bought a secondhand copy of The Columbian Orator, a "noble acquisition" that he carried with him on his escape to the North. Douglass began his career as an antislavery lecturer in 1841 and founded his first newspaper, North Star, six years later.For the next five decades he used his voice and wielded his pen in the cause of emancipation, equal rights, and human dignity. Inspired by the Hebrew prophets, Douglass developed a unique oratorical and literary style that combined scriptural cadences with savage irony, moral urgency, and keen insight. In his incandescent jeremiad "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Douglass skewered the hypocrisy of the slaveholding republic; and in "The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered" he refuted white supremacist ideology. "Resistance to Blood-Houndism" called for forceful opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act; "Capt. John Brown Not Insane" praised the "self-forgetful heroism" of the abolitionist martyr; and "How to End the War," published in 1861, called for the raising of Black troops and the destruction of slavery. In his oration at the Freedmen's Memorial in 1876, Douglass offered a brilliantly perceptive assessment of Lincoln's role in emancipation; "There Was a Right Side in the Late War" attacked the "Lost Cause" mythology of the Confederacy; and "The Lessons of the Hour" denounced lynching and disenfranchisement in the emerging Jim Crow South.As a special feature the volume also includes Douglass's only foray into fiction, the 1853 novella "The Heroic Slave," about a shipboard insurrection.

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" is the 1845 autobiography of freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It recounts his life as a slave in Maryland and his flight for freedom. The account is accompanied by texts written by well-known fellow abolitionists of the time: William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Philipps, acting as proof of the legitimacy of the author’s claims. Upon its publication, the texts was well received, although it did get some negative feedback both from people acquainted with Douglass’s old masters, and with people doubting their cruelty, or that a black man could have written such a text. Nevertheless, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" had a huge impact on society, and remains one of the most read and studied personal accounts of slavery in America in the 19th century to this day. Frederick Douglass (1818-1995) was an American abolitionist and author. Born into slavery in Maryland, he was of African, European, and Native American descent. He was separated from his mother at a young age and lived with his grandmother until he was sold on. Frederick was taught his alphabet by the wife of one of his owners, a knowledge he passed on to other slaves. In 1838, he successfully escaped slavery by jumping on a north-bound train. After less than 24 hours, he was in New York and free. The same year, he married the woman that had inspired his run for freedom and started working actively as a social reformer, orator, statesman, and women’s rights defender. He remains most known today for his 1845 autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."

DRAMATIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN AMERICAN SLAVEThis classic of American literature, a dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave, was first published in 1845, when its author had just achieved his freedom. Its shocking first-hand account of the horrors of slavery became an international best seller. His eloquence led Frederick Douglass to become the first great African-American leader in the United States. Douglass rose through determination, brilliance and eloquence to shape the American Nation. He was an abolitionist, human rights and women's rights activist, orator, author, journalist, publisher and social reformer His personal relationship with Abraham Lincoln helped persuade the President to make emancipation a cause of the Civil War.This edition of the original classic work, includes an index that will enable you to easily search for the names, places and topics as you discover the brilliance and determination of this incredible leader.

DRAMATIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN AMERICAN SLAVE INCLUDING 21ST CENTURY STUDY GUIDEThis classic of American literature was first published in 1845, when its author had just achieved his freedom. Its shocking first-hand account of the horrors of slavery became an international best seller. His eloquence led Frederick Douglass to become the first great African-American leader in the United States.Douglass rose through determination, brilliance and eloquence to shape the American Nation.He was an abolitionist, human rights and women's rights activist, orator, author, journalist, publisher and social reformerHis personal relationship with Abraham Lincoln helped persuade the President to make emancipation a cause of the Civil War.This deluxe edition of this classic work, includes a 21st century study guide that will provide you with a deeper sense of the trials and tribulations Douglass endured. The questions will take you into his world and will assist you in further exploring your own writing abilities, while appreciating and honoring the depth of his.

The most famous memoir of its kind and a key text in the anti-slavery movement, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells the striking and emotionally charged story of one man's journey from slavery to freedom. Complete & Unabridged. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Dr Lydia Plath.Born into a life of slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass spent his youth passed from master to master, from city to field, and subjected to unimaginable cruelty. Along this journey he sought knowledge, he learned to read and write, and he discovered that education was his key to salvation. Using everything he learned and fuelled by all he was forced to endure, Douglass managed to escape and then, eventually, to free himself from slavery. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a startlingly honest account of his struggle, played a fundamental role in the abolition of slavery, a movement that Douglass dedicated his life to.

¿We¿ve railed against injustice for decade upon decade, a lifetime of struggle and progress and enlightenment that we see etched in Fredrick Douglass¿s mighty, leonine gaze.¿ -Barack Obama¿My Bondage and my Freedom, besides giving a fresh impulse to antislavery literature, shows upon its pages the untiring industry of the ripe scholar.¿-William Wells BrownMy Bondage and my Freedom (1845), a classic of American History writing and one of the most influential and ennobling autobiographies ever written, was composed while Fredrick Douglas was at his heights as an orator and writer. At the time of writing, Douglass had also reached the pinnacle of his work as a leader in the abolitionist movement and as an influential newspaper publisher. This incisive and eloquent book is at once an extraordinary story of resilience and a meditation on power, education, and freedom. The depictions of Fredrick Douglass¿s early life on a Maryland slave plantation, the series of relocations and abuses under various overseers, and his eventual freedom are an extraordinarily vivid portrait of the United States leading up to the beginning of the Civil War. My Bondage and my Freedom is a brilliant account of a singular life and as well as a scathing reproach to one of the darkest episodes of American history. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of My Bondage and my Freedom is both modern and readable.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass describes the author¿s life as a slave, his determined efforts to educate himself, and the casual, dehumanizing cruelty of bondage. This is justly the most celebrated of the slave narratives appearing before the Civil War.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.Born into slavery during the early nineteenth century, Frederick Douglass escaped to freedom before he was twenty-one years old. From the moment he arrived in New York City, he felt a need to tell his story, one that mirrored so many people still enslaved in the South with no hope of escape.As an orator and preacher, Douglass was an abolitionist, supporter of women's suffrage and staunch defender of equality for all. In his first autobiographical work, published in 1845, The Narrative of Frederick Douglass describes how he went from slave to a free man.