Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

The most famous memoir of its kind and a key text in the anti-slavery movement, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells the striking and emotionally charged story of one man’s journey from slavery to freedom.

Born into a life of slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass spent his youth passed from master to master, from city to field, and subjected to unimaginable cruelty. Along this journey he sought knowledge, he learned to read and write, and he discovered that education was his key to salvation. Using everything he learned and fuelled by all he was forced to endure, Douglass managed to escape and then, eventually, to free himself from slavery.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a startlingly honest account of his struggle, played a fundamental role in the abolition of slavery, a movement that Douglass dedicated his life to.