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    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
    Ebook149 pages3 hours

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

    By Frederick Douglass

    4.5/5

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    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.
    In this, the first and most frequently read of his three autobiographies, Douglass provides graphic descriptions of his childhood and horrifying experiences as a slave as well as a harrowing record of his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom.
    Published in 1845 to quell doubts about his origins — since few slaves of that period could write — the Narrative is admired today for its extraordinary passion, sensitive and vivid descriptions and storytelling power. It belongs in the library of anyone interested in African-American history and the life of one of the country's most courageous and influential champions of civil rights.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateApr 18, 2012
    ISBN9780486110103
    Author

    Frederick Douglass

    Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. He was separated from his mother as a baby and lived with his grandmother up to the age of eight, when he was sent to live as a house servant, a field hand and then a ship caulker. He escaped to New York in 1838 and seven years later published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography of his life as a slave, which became an instant bestseller. Douglass rose to fame as a powerful orator and spent the rest of his life campaigning for equality. He became a national leader of the abolitionist movement, a consultant to Abraham Lincoln in the civil rights movement and a passionate supporter of the women’s rights movement. He died in 1895.

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    Reviews for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

    4.5/5

    66 ratings63 reviews

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    • 4/5
      What really struck me was how the introductory texts in the preface (written by Douglass's contemporaries and included in the original publication, so I believe they will be in all editions), while sincere and correct, are still fairly inaccessible and overwrought as far as the language is concerned, which has the effect of highlighting the clear, concise wisdom of Frederick Douglass. If you've never read this before and worry it will be dense or inaccessible, don't let that be a stumbling block; the writing is powerful but uncomplicated. Personally, I've read sections of it before in school, but this was my first full read through (even then it's quite short, 122 pages on Kindle). I've always found the idea he presented of slavery itself as a corrupting influence on whites even if they start out with "good" intentions to be really intriguing, so I was hoping for a deeper exploration of that and didn't really find it in the full text. I also completely understand why he omitted the details of how he escaped slavery (the safety of other fleeing slaves who might take the same path), but given that the whole narrative was heading in that direction, it does create an unfortunate disconnect with his story as a narrative at that point. But otherwise the importance of this text is obvious and moving.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story. I only wish there were more details, and that the story went on longer. I especially appreciated Douglass's thoughts on how he changed as a slave, and on how slavery changed individual slaveholders, their society and their religion.
    • 3/5
      A fine book.
    • 5/5
      First-hand account of African American orator Frederick Douglass' early years as an enslaved person. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of slavery in America.
    • 4/5
      As a white Canadian, I think I have a not very admirable tendency to abstract the hell out of American slavery--to make it about the revolting idea of people owning other people (which it is) and then somehow less about what that meant: the sheer incomprehensible mass of abuses, from the daily sneer to the atrocities of casual, consequenceless rape and murder. Frederick Douglass is the antidote to that, one of the great testifiers to slavery's evil, and a hell of a man. This one's good to read (as a white North American person) any time you start to get tired of bringing to your relations with race, and with race relations, and with your friends and neighbours of other races all your gathered sincerity and humility and care.
    • 5/5
      Essential reading for any student of American history. Douglass writes with elegance, passion, and experience. His views on America's version of Christianity are, unfortunately, as true now as when he penned them in 1845; I can't recommend a quick read of the Appendix enough.
    • 5/5
      Amazing story of Frederick Douglass's struggle for freedom and then for the rights and freedom of African-Americans.
    • 5/5
      Frederick Douglass' powerful account of the slave condition and freedom. Starts with the bloody details of slave holding, then the even sadder aspects of slave mentality - singing proudly about errands to "the great house farm" and quarreling over who's master is the richest or most powerful - before gradually the yearning for freedom and will to be free take over the story. Argues that slavery corrupts both the slave and the slave holder, that religion in the South is mostly shallow. Emphasizes the importance of literacy in making slaves rise.
    • 2/5
      This book is not bad, but I've had to read it so many times for school, in so many different classes, that I don't want to see this book ever again.
    • 5/5
      It's interesting how the story of one person can have a greater impact than the history of a people or event. In this extraordinary autobiography of abolitionist and escaped slave Frederick Douglass, we are given an intimate window into the everyday world of slavery, and it is ugly. I have read only one other book that made me feel so profoundly the lack of humanity and the evil of which humans are capable, and that was "People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck, in which he describes parents who, for Christmas, gift their surviving son the rifle used by another son to kill himself. Reading Peck's description of a truly evil person, it seems he could have just read Douglass' book: (Adapted from Wikipedia):- Consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection- Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets while being apparently normal with everyone else - Commonly hates with the pretense of love- Abuses political (emotional) power - Maintains a high level of respectability, and lies incessantly in order to do so- Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency of destructiveness. - Is unable to think from the viewpoint of his or her victim- Has a covert intolerance to criticismDouglass tells his story of being born and kept as a slave, and his escape to the North in his early twenties, in a style that highlights the evil he experienced and/or observed in Maryland:- being removed from his mother's care by the age of one, with almost no contact allowed with her for the rest of his life- being clothed as a child only in a knee-length shirt, summer or winter, and going naked if the shirt wore out before the annual clothing allotment - having no provision for beds or bedding except for a single blanket - routine rape of women to increase slaveholders' assets and wealth- deliberate near-starvation of slaves, with stock animals being well-cared for and slaves whipped for any perceived lack of attention to the animals' well-being- slaveholders' (both men and women) and overseers' enjoyment of frequent, repeated, and lengthy slave whippings, often for no reason than satisfaction- old slaves being put out into the forest to fend for themselves - the inevitable degeneration into depravity of whites who were new to slaveholding (thorough marriage, for instance) The book skips over the exact method Douglass used to escape, in order to protect others and not give slaveholders any tips, but in his final autobiography, after the Civil War, he did give a detailed account. The book ends with him in New Bedford, MA, with a new bride and making his way among the wonders of freedom, irrespective of the hostility shown blacks by northern whites afraid for their jobs. There's also an epilogue Douglass wrote to clarify his comments on the "Christianity" he observed in both the South and the North. It's not pretty. Ministers going home to rape, preachers spending the rest of the week whipping humans, respectable citizens spending their time finding new ways to force compliance, whether it be though intimidation, murder, or forcible separation of families. More than anywhere else, this is where Douglass expresses his anger.
    • 4/5
      Very short & to the point, Douglass paints the picture of being a slave better than any other book I've read on the subject. His first hand account blows away 'Roots' or even the 'Confessions of Nat Turner' with its simple, understated prose. Huge thanks to Nancy, a friend here on GR, that recommended & gave me the book.

      Why would a man remain in slavery when there was any chance of escape? This is a question I've always wondered about. He tells us. The courage & determination that it took him to make that leap was incredible. His simple account of what people can endure is heart wrenching.

      The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars was the editor. I can't recall his name, but he is a professor at Columbia University & must think his audience is a bunch of idiots. His long winded introduction basically tells Douglass' entire story. It was a spoiler & redundant. The original publication had another introduction that is also included. This was doubly redundant due to the first, but would have been far better if just it was included.

      The editor's constant footnotes, defining well known words that are well used in context, were distracting & occasionally incorrect. The end notes were better, but should have been footnotes instead. I was left with the impression that the editor was trying to impress me rather than help me understand Douglass' story. Blech!

      Douglass has written his autobiography in several versions. This was his first. I'd be interested in finding a later one, especially with a different editor. In any case, for all the faults of the editor, the basic story is something that I recommend everyone read.
    • 4/5
      This is a good little book which everybody should read. It was published in 1845 when the author, who escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1838, put it out. It does not tell details of his escape for the good reason that he did not want Southern masters to know how he accomplished the escape. The account of slave life tells of brutality which no sensible person would inflict on his horse, much less on another human being. His strictures on Sothern religion are well-deserved: how horrendous that religion in those days condoned slavery. And how asinine that some Southen "statesmen" deemed slavery a positive good!
    • 5/5
      M. Douglass has been able to transport us to his time thru his narrative. The way this book is writing keeps you asking for more. The only negative is the absence of details on how he manage to get free, which is pretty understandable. As he put it himself he did not want to jeopardize any other slaves' tentative to free themselves. Presently I am reading a few 19th century books, unlike other travel or explorers narratives this is not a boring description of facts, landscape or political scenes but a vibrant personal experience...
    • 4/5
      A gripping narrative full of terror, fear, triumph and luck. A bold thing to have written at the time. A good reminder of what humans are capable of on both sides of the spectrum.
    • 5/5
      Reviewed August 2006 I had often heard mentioned Frederik Douglass, I know he was asked to advise Lincoln twice and I have a nice portrait of this man taken at the Lincoln museum. Now I have so much more knowledge - to read his accounts of slavery are jaw-dropping. I want to travel to Maryland and look the descendants of these slave-owners and whip them. Douglass is very clear in his idea of Christianity - there is real Christianity that follows Gods teachings. Then there is the Christianity of the slave-owners, the hypocrisy of that time and place. To beat a slave and quote the Bible while doing it sounds so insane. Douglass gives us much detail in some accounts and leaves out much about his wife and what happened to many of the slaves he left. Now I am very curious to read what were the reactions after this book came out. Where are the descendants of Douglass now? I want to know more. 21-2006
    • 4/5
      This is one of those books I should have read years ago as a history teacher. I have read excerpts of this and many other slave narratives like it, but I enjoyed this read. Having a good background in the history of the time period, there is nothing new here for me and his story mirrors those of many others. The obvious exception to that would be how he spent his life after he gained his freedom, but this story does not cover that time period.

      I imagine that this book had a great impact at the time it was published. Douglas was such a large presence in American politics and abolitionist circles. This book is a great introduction to his story and I would recommend it to any students of history.
    • 5/5
      I used to hear negative things about frederick bailey, johnson douglas but after reading his first narrative autobiography I thought of him as a brave, intellegent, thought ful and wise young man. I was truly fascinated by the way that he tricked the young boys in his baltimore neighborhood into teaching him how to read, the way he gave his master the beat down of his life, the type of planning that he did to get things done, the strength and courage that it took to stand up to rouge cowards, and his constant analysis of his condition as well as his friends, family and colleagues. Although the total narrative was very focused on the events of his life you cannot help but wonder about other things that made the civilization, look astoundingly backwards.Things such as the proletariate violence, the child abuse, the rape of woman, the wonton murder and the labor practices. By the way the narrative explains the work practices, the freedman, the working class were as much in bondage as the slave. There had to be high unemployment and when the slaves were eventually emancipated everyone who was not wealthy and didn't own anything was without a doubt emancipated also, else headed for the same plight as the people in bondage...I enjoyed this narrative....
    • 3/5
      A VERY good account of what slavery did to countless lives. Definately something that should be in a high school cirriculum.
    • 4/5
      Douglass’s memoir really amazed me. I was expecting something more alone the lines of Uncle Tom’s Cabin where the reader is brow-beaten with the message – I think this style was needed in the time it was written but makes for a difficult read at times today. The memoir, however, is a very practical piece. He tells his story frankly, without delving into morality, because the simple facts of his life are enough for one to form an opinion. A really beautifully told story – I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.
    • 4/5
      well written, gets you really riled up and pissed off at America's treatment of human beings. righteous hair.
    • 4/5
      This is a wonderful book to read in order to get a glimpse of what being a slave was actually like, because it is written by a slave who taught himself how to read and write. Every person, especially in the United States, should read this book.
    • 4/5
      Incredible, amazing, moving autobiography. He writes with such energy and well-earned emotion. But this is not only an emotional story, it is one full of ideas that are still relevant today. Douglass even sometimes looks past race, which is hard to do today, much less in his position, with all his personal grievances, and focuses instead on the much larger ill of slavery. I found it touching how fairly he described his 'good masters' as well as 'bad masters' (good being a relative term here), not villifying them, though it would be easy to do so, but showing clearly how the institution of slavery itself is to blame for perverting or amplifying their bad natures. He is not only a great and moral man but a great writer, impressive as he wrote this only 7 years after escaping from slavery, and the only fault I find with this book is that, coming in at 86 pages of actual narrative, it's too short! I'm going to look for his two follow up autobiographies.
    • 5/5
      For my reading-while-driving I'm dependent on the library audiobook selection, which has very little overlap with anything I'd ever chose on my own. But amidst the dreck there are serendipities, books I never would have tried if not for the lack of any other option -- worlds opened to me that I never would have known otherwise. I certainly never would have considered reading the Narrative of Frederick Douglass -- not from any prejudice or lack of curiousity, but just from the general unexamined assumption that it would not be very interesting. Where do I get these ideas? Anyhow, this is a stunning book, clearly written, with riveting descriptions of life in slavery. It's one of those books -- I also said this about The Bookseller of Kabul -- that opens your eyes and heart to a greater understanding of those facts you already knew. The descriptions of the rags young Frederick had instead of clothes, the constant cursing heaped upon him, his dawning awareness of his own humanity and dignity, his willingness to fight for himself -- this is an eye-opening book that should be read by everyone studying American history.
    • 4/5
      Frederick Douglass has to be one of the most powerful American writers to date. The ferocity, and fear that engulfed his life are truly unbearable, and lets the reader feel that. Douglass is eloquent, and persuasive. But above all he is radical and inspiring.
    • 4/5
      This summer while talking among friends I had the realization that I have read almost no african american literature. I knew I had deficiencies in female authors and have been trying to balance things out better this year. How is it that I can think of myself as well read with these two (and who knows how many more) weak spots?

      So I decided to start near the beginning with Frederick Douglass and I am glad I did as it was a fairly eye opening look into the life of a slave. I think we all get the gist of what slavery is and how bad it can be but many of the details were entirely new to me (like getting a few days off at the end of the year, and at times being able to visit family members). I am thinking I will move on to Du Bois from here, then venture into Ellison. Who else would you recommend?
    • 5/5
      This is a powerful autobiography of a man who would not be kept down. It is really powerful to hear him talk about the desire to learn to read and the power it unleashed for him. I also think the description of the change he felt when he decided he would never be whooped without striking back again is compelling. Civil rights struggles wrestle with the idea of violent or non-violent resistance and both have practical hang-ups. As an individual, Frederick Douglass decided that he would not be a passive sufferer of beatings any longer, and it seems to have also changed his demeanor and attitude before situations got to the point of him getting assaulted.
    • 5/5
      This is an important work in any historical/cultural study of the time period and/or the institution of slavery. As a project by a man who was not allowed to learn to read, it is astounding. He is very thorough and reasoned and shares his reasoning meticulously; for example, why he does not give more details about his escape; and he is painstaking in his responses to expected critiques. Impressive.
    • 5/5
      A wonderfully evocative account by this former slave of his sufferings, his self-education and growing sense of self-worth and dignity prior to his successful bid for freedom in 1838 (he withholds details of his escape in this first version of his autogiography, so as not to make it harder for other slaves to escape by the same route from Maryland to New York). The author is a very good writer, with a straightforward, yet powerful and moving prose style The white man's view that the black slave is less than human and a mere chattel comes across very clearly in numerous incidents, as does the hypocrisy of much of 19th century American Christianity in upholding the slave regime. A great read.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite historical figures! Loved learning about his life.
    • 5/5
      Still a wonderful read, even when you are forced to read a bunch of emancipation narratives all at the same time thanks to an English degree. I read this again in a graduate program and it lost none of its power.

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