A man born into slavery in Maryland tells his own life story, from childhood to his escape to freedom. As a boy, he traded bread with poor white children so they would teach him to read.
142 pages 2h 45m reading time
The most famous American slave narrative and a landmark of abolitionist writing.
Shows that slavery depends on keeping people ignorant, and that learning to read was Douglass's path to freedom.
Insists that the Christianity of slaveholders is hypocrisy, wholly different from the true faith of Christ.
It made Douglass the leading Black voice of the movement to end slavery.
Written to silence doubters
Audiences doubted so skilled a speaker had ever been enslaved, so he wrote his story with real names as proof.
Escape kept secret
He refused to say how he escaped, to protect those who helped him and keep the route open for others.
Book put him in danger
It named his former owner and put him at risk of recapture, so he soon left for Britain and Ireland.
Freedom bought by supporters
While he was overseas, British supporters raised money to buy his freedom, so he could return home safely.
From the 1845 Anti-Slavery Office edition
The original uses words for races and peoples that are now dated or offensive, including slurs, which are covered. The modernized text uses today’s words, keeping slurs only where people in the book say them. Why
