Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass

Born into Southern slavery in the early 1800s, Frederick Douglass surreptitiously taught himself to read, learned of life outside slavery, planned and waited, and finally in 1838 effected an escape, traveling north to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Outstandingly intelligent and articulate, he took up the cause of the abolitionists, publishing his own antislavery newspaper and lecturing in England and the United States. After the Civil War his talents led him to posts as Marshal of the District of Columbia and Minister to Haiti. In this famous Narrative, Douglass details his life as a slave up to the time of his fateful escape.

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