Showing results by author "Frederick Douglass" in All Categories

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass covers the life of the prominent abolitionist during and after the Civil War. Here, Douglass provides a fuller account of his escape from slavery and the underground railway to freedom. It includes his recollections of presidents Garfield and Lincoln, Johnson and Garfield, and an account of his service as Marshall of the District of Columbia.

The truth about slavery in America from a former slave, Fredrick Douglass. Mr. Douglass was one of the most articulate Americans of his era. There was no such person as a happy slave and black lives mattered only to abolitionists and the slaves themselves. 

My Bondage and My Freedom is Frederick Douglass’s second autobiography, published 10 years after Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Written during his career as a newspaper editor and orator, the book placed Douglass in the international spotlight as a spokesman for American blacks. Examining the meaning of race, slavery and freedom, the book extends the story of his life by providing more detail on his childhood and including his experiences as a traveling lecturer in the United States and Europe.

"The Heroic Slave" is the only work of fiction by the eminent abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The narrative was inspired by Madison Washington, a slave on the Creole who led a rebellion on the ship in November 1841, and had it sail to Nassau in the Bahamas instead of New Orleans. The short story appeared in the collection Autographs for Freedom (1852).

In this work, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass points out the evils of the policy of protecting and preserving slavery. Among them was the fact that it would deprive the Union of the aid that might be rendered it by four million slaves. Another evil of the policy was the chilling effect it exerted upon the moral sentiment of mankind. 

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Why Is the Negro Lynched? and learn about African American history. 

In this speech of 1848, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass makes an eloquent call for self-reliance. He points out that prejudice becomes powerless in the presence of industry, sobriety, and honesty combined with intelligence and self-respect. "There is gold in the earth, but we must dig it", says Douglass in reference to character which is attainable, and each must attain it for himself. 

In this 1847 speech of Douglass to the American Anti-Slavery Society, he states that slavery is such a gigantic crime that every opportunity ought to be used to expose it. Dismissing political parties and the church as viable ways to end slavery, he gives examples of how instances of peaceful moral protest against slavery were suppressed. He defends his call for aid in England to help bring about the end of the evil practice. 

As the most famous name to join the lecture circuit renouncing slavery, Frederick Douglass abandons the image of the victim and encourages emancipation. A true supporter of self-development, Douglass preaches the importance of helping yourself before you can truly help others. In his mind, empathy and strength can only be gained once you fight your way from a slave to a man. 

The essay "The Destiny of Colored Americans" was first published in The North Star, the abolitionist newspaper of Frederick Douglass. It sets out the enduring relationship between Afro-Americans and the United States. Douglass is concerned not only with physical freedom but the right to education, work, and building a life. 

In this article that appeared in the December 1866 issue of The Atlantic, Frederick Douglass states that no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. The two main themes are Douglass’ criticism of President Jackson and his urgent call to extend voting rights to African Americans. 

As a former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass was an outspoken leader for African Americans. He wrote this text in response to the American Colonization Society, who believed that black Americans should emigrate back to Africa. Douglass staunchly opposed this notion, saying it was nonsense to displace eight million Americans to a country they didn’t know. He insisted that all Americans - black, white, mixed, or other - were entitled to equal citizenship in the country they were born in.

With this impassioned speech, abolitionist Frederick Douglass exposes the hypocritical racism of Christian churches. He shares examples of racism he’s seen or experienced in spiritual contexts, the worst being white slaveholders who used the Bible to justify slavery. As a former slave himself, Douglass had personal experience with southern preachers telling slaves that God wanted them to obey their masters. This powerful speech serves as both a historical record and a warning for modern listeners to be wary of those today who would use spirituality to manipulate others. 

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was published in 1845; it is a memoir and treatise on abolition written by the famous author and former slave Frederick Douglass. The book includes two introductions by well-known abolitionists: a preface by William Lloyd Garrison, and a letter by Wendell Phillips, both confirming the veracity of the account and the literacy of its author. It is generally considered to be the most famous of a number of abolition narratives written by former slaves in the same era.

In 1852, Frederick Douglass, former slave and, by then, a leading figure in the abolitionist movement was asked by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Association to address the group for their July 4th celebration at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. The speech caused an immediate sensation and swiftly became a seminal rallying cry of the abolitionist movement in America. The audience in Rochester included none other than President Millard Fillmore.

Frederick Douglass was an 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 oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. 

Former slave, impassioned abolitionist, brilliant writer, newspaper editor and eloquent orator whose speeches fired the abolitionist cause, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) led an astounding life. Physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy plagued his early years, yet through sheer force of character he was able to overcome these obstacles to become a leading spokesman for his people.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a powerful story about a man who was born into slavery but secretly learned how to read and write, which at that time was punishable by death. Because of this fact, we're able to read about the journey Douglass went through in his life, enduring the cruelty and heartless actions of his slave masters before escaping to the North.

Frederick Douglass, prominent abolitionist, civil rights activist, and reform journalist, was raised in the malicious system of slavery. His keen intellect as an anti-slavery crusader led some to question his past as a slave. To counter doubts about his life experience as a slave, Douglass wrote an autobiography providing full details of his life. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave, is an emotional journey into the atrocious system of slavery, and the inspirational triumph against insurmountable odds.

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass was Douglass' third autobiography. In it he was able to go into greater detail about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery, as he and his family were no longer in any danger from the reception of his work. In this engrossing narrative he recounts early years of abuse; his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom, abolitionist campaigns, and his crusade for full civil rights for former slaves.