Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to become one of the leading black writers and lecturers in the United States. Born in Maryland of an unknown white father and a black mother, he taught himself to read and write while still a boy in captivity, giving himself a crucial advantage when he finally fled to Massachusetts and freedom at the age of twenty one. After becoming a member of the Massachusetts AntiSlavery Society, Douglass made thousands of converts to abolitionism through his eloquent writings and speeches.

Although he won a wide audience in New England, Douglass also attracted critics who could not believe he had ever been a slave. To refute these rumors, he published the story of his youth—an account that proved as convincing as his lectures, and which threatened his own imprisonment and return to the South...