The Speeches & Autobiographical Writings of Frederick Douglass

A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a memoir and treatise on abolition written by former slave, Frederick Douglass. The text, first published in 1845, describes the events of his life and encompasses eleven chapters that recount Douglass' life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. It is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. The Heroic Slave, a heartwarming Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty is a short piece of fiction written by famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The novella, published in 1852, was Douglass' first and only published work of fiction. My Bondage and My Freedom is an autobiographical slave narrative written by Douglass and published in 1855. The book describes in greater detail his transition from bondage to liberty. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography, published in 1881 and revised in 1892. Because of the emancipation of American slaves during and following the American Civil War, Douglas gave more details about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could in his two previous autobiographies. My Escape from Slavery was published in 1881 in The Century Illustrated Magazine. His fully revised autobiography was published as Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, also in 1881.

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings.