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Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
'It will be seen in these pages that I have lived several lives in first, the life of slavery; secondly, the life of a fugitive from slavery; thirdly, the life of comparative freedom; fourthly, the life of conflict and battle; and, fifthly, the life of victory, if not complete, at least assured.'
First published in 1892, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Written By Himself is the final autobiography written by Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), a man who was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. Securing his self-liberation at twenty years of age in 1838, he went on to become the most renowned antislavery activist, social justice campaigner, author, orator, philosopher, essayist, historian, intellectual, statesman, and liberator in U.S. history. A powerful literarywork, Douglass' final autobiography shares the stories of his 'several lives in one.'
Beginning with his war against 'the hell-black system of human bondage,' Douglass bears witness to his personal experiences of mind-body-and soul-destroying tragedies. Living a new life as a 'fugitive from slavery,' he tells his audiences of his decades-long labours as a world-leading freedom-fighter. Ever vigilant in his protest against the discriminatory persecutions endured by millions of 'my people,' he testifies to the terrible reality that his 'life of comparative freedom' necessitated alifelong fight against the inhumane injustices of 'American prejudice against colour.' Living a death-defying 'life of conflict and battle' during the Civil War, Douglass celebrates the 'life of victory' promised by post-war civil rights legislation only to condemn the failures of the U.S. nationeither to exterminate slavery or secure equal rights for all. All too painfully aware that the 'conflict between the spirit of liberty and the spirit of slavery' was far from over and would become the unending struggle for 'aftercoming generations' in the ongoing war against white supremacy, Douglass remained a fearless fighter against the 'infernal and barbarous spirit of slavery' 'wherever I find it' to the day that he died.
This new edition examines Douglass' memorialization of his own and his mother Harriet Bailey's first-hand experiences of enslavement and of their 'mental' liberation through a 'love of letters'; his representation of Civil War Black combat heroism; his conviction that 'education means emancipation'; and finally, his 'unending battle' with white publishers for the freedom to 'tell my story.' This volume reproduces Frederick Douglass' emotionally powerful and politically hard-hitting anti-lynching speech, Lessons of the Hour, published in 1894.
For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
First published in 1892, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Written By Himself is the final autobiography written by Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), a man who was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. Securing his self-liberation at twenty years of age in 1838, he went on to become the most renowned antislavery activist, social justice campaigner, author, orator, philosopher, essayist, historian, intellectual, statesman, and liberator in U.S. history. A powerful literarywork, Douglass' final autobiography shares the stories of his 'several lives in one.'
Beginning with his war against 'the hell-black system of human bondage,' Douglass bears witness to his personal experiences of mind-body-and soul-destroying tragedies. Living a new life as a 'fugitive from slavery,' he tells his audiences of his decades-long labours as a world-leading freedom-fighter. Ever vigilant in his protest against the discriminatory persecutions endured by millions of 'my people,' he testifies to the terrible reality that his 'life of comparative freedom' necessitated alifelong fight against the inhumane injustices of 'American prejudice against colour.' Living a death-defying 'life of conflict and battle' during the Civil War, Douglass celebrates the 'life of victory' promised by post-war civil rights legislation only to condemn the failures of the U.S. nationeither to exterminate slavery or secure equal rights for all. All too painfully aware that the 'conflict between the spirit of liberty and the spirit of slavery' was far from over and would become the unending struggle for 'aftercoming generations' in the ongoing war against white supremacy, Douglass remained a fearless fighter against the 'infernal and barbarous spirit of slavery' 'wherever I find it' to the day that he died.
This new edition examines Douglass' memorialization of his own and his mother Harriet Bailey's first-hand experiences of enslavement and of their 'mental' liberation through a 'love of letters'; his representation of Civil War Black combat heroism; his conviction that 'education means emancipation'; and finally, his 'unending battle' with white publishers for the freedom to 'tell my story.' This volume reproduces Frederick Douglass' emotionally powerful and politically hard-hitting anti-lynching speech, Lessons of the Hour, published in 1894.
For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
640 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 30, 2022
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About the author
Frederick Douglass
1,038 books1,679 followersFrederick Douglass (né Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey) was born a slave in the state of Maryland in 1818. After his escape from slavery, Douglass became a renowned abolitionist, editor and feminist. Having escaped from slavery at age 20, he took the name Frederick Douglass for himself and became an advocate of abolition. Douglass traveled widely, and often perilously, to lecture against slavery.
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 1, 2025
5 Main Takeaways from Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
1. Self-Education Is the Ultimate Key to Liberation: Douglass credits his ability to read and write—secretly taught by Sophia Auld and later self-mastered through stolen moments with newspapers and books—as the spark that transformed him from enslaved property into a free thinker. Literacy exposed the hypocrisy of slavery and armed him with the intellectual tools to dismantle it, proving that knowledge is power no tyrant can fully suppress.
2. The Brutality of Slavery Corrupts Both Enslaved and Enslaver: Through vivid accounts of whippings, family separations, and the “slave-breaking” tactics of Edward Covey, Douglass shows how the institution dehumanizes its victims while eroding the moral character of owners. The system’s cruelty is not incidental but structural, designed to crush resistance and justify itself through pseudoscience and religion.
3. Resistance Takes Many Forms—Physical, Intellectual, and Moral: From his defiant fight with Covey that broke the overseer’s hold over him, to crafting fake “protection papers” for escape, to his later abolitionist speeches and newspaper (*The North Star*), Douglass demonstrates that rebellion need not always be violent. Strategic defiance, public testimony, and coalition-building are equally revolutionary.
4. Freedom Without Equality Is Incomplete: After escaping to the North in 1838, Douglass encounters segregation, wage discrimination, and fugitive slave laws that reveal liberty’s fragility for Black Americans. His activism—supporting women’s suffrage, recruiting Black Union soldiers, and critiquing Reconstruction’s failures—underscores that true emancipation requires dismantling systemic racism in law, economy, and culture.
5. Moral Suasion and Political Action Must Work Together: Initially a Garrisonian pacifist advocating non-voting and moral appeal alone, Douglass evolves to endorse armed self-defense during the Civil War and pragmatic politics afterward (meeting Lincoln, running for office). His life proves that eloquent truth-telling must be paired with organized power—voting, legislation, and even force when necessary—to achieve justice.
1. Self-Education Is the Ultimate Key to Liberation: Douglass credits his ability to read and write—secretly taught by Sophia Auld and later self-mastered through stolen moments with newspapers and books—as the spark that transformed him from enslaved property into a free thinker. Literacy exposed the hypocrisy of slavery and armed him with the intellectual tools to dismantle it, proving that knowledge is power no tyrant can fully suppress.
2. The Brutality of Slavery Corrupts Both Enslaved and Enslaver: Through vivid accounts of whippings, family separations, and the “slave-breaking” tactics of Edward Covey, Douglass shows how the institution dehumanizes its victims while eroding the moral character of owners. The system’s cruelty is not incidental but structural, designed to crush resistance and justify itself through pseudoscience and religion.
3. Resistance Takes Many Forms—Physical, Intellectual, and Moral: From his defiant fight with Covey that broke the overseer’s hold over him, to crafting fake “protection papers” for escape, to his later abolitionist speeches and newspaper (*The North Star*), Douglass demonstrates that rebellion need not always be violent. Strategic defiance, public testimony, and coalition-building are equally revolutionary.
4. Freedom Without Equality Is Incomplete: After escaping to the North in 1838, Douglass encounters segregation, wage discrimination, and fugitive slave laws that reveal liberty’s fragility for Black Americans. His activism—supporting women’s suffrage, recruiting Black Union soldiers, and critiquing Reconstruction’s failures—underscores that true emancipation requires dismantling systemic racism in law, economy, and culture.
5. Moral Suasion and Political Action Must Work Together: Initially a Garrisonian pacifist advocating non-voting and moral appeal alone, Douglass evolves to endorse armed self-defense during the Civil War and pragmatic politics afterward (meeting Lincoln, running for office). His life proves that eloquent truth-telling must be paired with organized power—voting, legislation, and even force when necessary—to achieve justice.
October 22, 2025
In Frederick Douglass' 3rd autobiography, he again, reiterates his time as a slave, his freedom, his speaking trips abroad, and the start of his newspaper. He becomes friends with the anti-slavery activist, John Brown, who, with his family, moved to Kansas in the hope of making Kansas a free state. When John Brown was executed for leading the revolt at Harper's Ferry, Douglass, as Brown's friend was a wanted man and again had to use his connections to the underground railroad, and escaped to Canada to avoid persecution. From Canada, he, again, went abroad for speaking engagements and returned to the US when his daughter died. Lincoln sought him out for a meeting and they became good friends. Douglass was instrumental in Lincoln using black men to help fight the civil war. With the end of the war, Douglass was devastated when Lincoln was assassinated. He wanted to retire to a small house in the country, but still received many speaking engagements, earning him more money than he could ever otherwise make in a year. He took on task of making it possible for black people to vote. Which happened in 1866 with Congress overriding Johnson's veto. Douglass continued to fight for the rights of blacks and held various government positions such as U.S. Marshal for the DC, and Minister to Haiti. He took a trip to Baltimore and met with his old friends still living. His former slave holders and fellow slaves still living. In the last chapter he reminisces about his life, his accomplishments, and failures. He continued giving speeches and fighting for the rights of blacks. February 20, 1895 after attending a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C., Douglass returned home and unexpectedly died of a heart attack.
February 10, 2023
The perfect read for Black History Month
I chose this book after seeing the Ken Burns PBS documentary. There is so much I only thought I knew and so much I wish I had known decades ago. This is a true testament as to what the human spirit can overcome even when faced with what appear to be insurmountable obstacles.
I chose this book after seeing the Ken Burns PBS documentary. There is so much I only thought I knew and so much I wish I had known decades ago. This is a true testament as to what the human spirit can overcome even when faced with what appear to be insurmountable obstacles.
April 26, 2025
great perspective
While a bit wordy for my taste, looking at it from Douglas’s perspective I found it to be a fascinating read. Douglas was a brilliant and courages person who deserves to be understood.
While a bit wordy for my taste, looking at it from Douglas’s perspective I found it to be a fascinating read. Douglas was a brilliant and courages person who deserves to be understood.
October 7, 2024
Audio - educational
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews