Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies (LOA #68): Narrative of the Life / My Bondage and My Freedom / Life and TimesHenry Louis Gates, Jr. presents the only authoritative edition of all three autobiographies by the escaped slave who became a great American leader. Here in this Library of America volume are collected Frederick Douglass's three autobiographical narratives, now recognized as classics of both American history and American literature. Writing with the eloquence and fierce intelligence that made him a brilliantly effective spokesman for the abolition of slavery and equal rights, Douglass shapes an inspiring vision of self-realization in the face of monumental odds. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), published seven years after his escape, was written in part as a response to skeptics who refused to believe that so articulate an orator could ever have been a slave. A powerfully compressed account of the cruelty and oppression of the Maryland plantation culture into which Douglass was born, it brought him to the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and drew thousands, black and white, to the cause. In My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Douglass expands the account of his slave years. With astonishing psychological penetration, he probes the painful ambiguities and subtly corrosive effects of black-white relations under slavery, and recounts his determined resistance to segregation in the North. The book also incorporates extracts from Douglass’s speeches, including the searing “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Life and Times, first published in 1881, records Douglass’s efforts to keep alive the struggle for racial equality udirng Reconstruction. John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe all feature prominently in this chronicle of a crucial epoch in American history. The revised edition of 1893, presented here, includes an account of his controversial diplomatic mission to Haiti. This volume contains a detailed chronology of Douglass’s life, notes providing further background on the events and people mentioned, and an account of the textual history of each of the autobiographies. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - lanewillson - LibraryThingI knew of Fredrick Douglass as a historical figure, which is to say, I really knew virtually nothing abut the man. Daughter Hannah gave me Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln for ... Read full review
Autobiographies
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictDouglass (1818-95), a former slave, rose to become an abolitionist, writer, and orator. In this collection of his autobiographical writings, edited by Gates (humanities, Harvard Univ.), he gives an ... Read full review
Contents
NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS | 1 |
MY BONDAGE AND MY FREEDOM | 103 |
INTRODUCTION | 125 |
CHAPTER I | 139 |
CHAPTER II | 146 |
GRADUAL INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF SLAVERY | 171 |
CHAPTER VI | 178 |
The Singing of the Slaves no Proof of Contentment | 184 |
The Betrayal Discovered | 316 |
A New set of Tormentors | 322 |
Return to BaltimoreChange in Little Tommy | 328 |
Author a Wanderer in New York Feelings on Reaching | 349 |
Contrast between the North and the South | 355 |
First Acquaintance with the Liberator | 362 |
Becomes a Public Lecturer | 365 |
Letter to Mr Garrison | 372 |
Beams of Sunlight | 206 |
Kindness of my new MistressLittle Tommy | 212 |
Increased Determination to Learn | 218 |
pursued my EducationMy Tutors | 223 |
CHAPTER XII | 229 |
CHAPTER XIII | 236 |
Return to BaltimoreDeath of Mistress Lucretia | 240 |
Allowance of FoodSufferings from Hunger | 246 |
No more Meal brought from the Mill Methodist | 252 |
Escape to St Michaels Suffering in the Woods | 273 |
An AlarmA Friend not an Enemy | 279 |
Coveys Ineffectual Commands for Assistance | 285 |
A Device of Slavery | 291 |
Reasons for continued Discontent | 297 |
CHAPTER XIX | 303 |
Authors ConfederatesHis Influence over them | 309 |
Conflict of Hopes and FearsIgnorance of Geography | 310 |
How the Authors Energies were Directed in Great | 378 |
Dr Cunninghams SpeechA Striking Incident | 384 |
Motives for going to Rochester | 391 |
Elevation of the Free People of Color Pledge for | 398 |
Letter to his Old Master | 412 |
The Nature of Slavery | 419 |
Inhumanity of Slavery | 425 |
LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS | 453 |
Character of its Editor 362 | 475 |
CHAPTER III | 482 |
CHAPTER XXIII | 506 |
INTRODUCED TO THE ABOLITIONISTS | 660 |
Chronology | 1049 |
Note on the Texts | 1078 |
1109 | |
Other editions - View all
Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies (LOA #68): Narrative of the Life / My ... Frederick Douglass No preview available - 1994 |
Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies (LOA #68): Narrative of the Life / My ... Frederick Douglass No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
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