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Frederick Douglass

by Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)

  • Free to read
  • 6 hours to read
  • 18 chapters
  • Reading level: 10th to 12th grade

"Frederick Douglass" by Booker T. Washington is a biographical account written in the early 20th century. The work details the life story of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became a prominent figure in the abolitionist movement and a leading advocate for the rights of African Americans. This biography not only recounts Douglass's struggles and triumphs but also serves as a reflection on the broader context of slavery and racial injustice in America. The opening of this biography introduces Douglass's early life, highlighting the harsh realities of slavery that shaped his journey towards freedom. It outlines his birth in Maryland and the pivotal moments that influenced his understanding of his identity and fate, including his separation from his mother and the cruelty he witnessed. The text emphasizes the formative impact of his grandmother's care and his eventual education through self-learning, igniting his desire for freedom. Douglass's early experiences with kindness and cruelty set the stage for his courageous escape from bondage and foreshadow his pivotal role as a leader in the fight for abolition. Overall, the beginning vividly illustrates the complexity of Douglass's character amid the injustices he faced, laying a strong foundation for his later achievements as an orator and reformer.

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  • Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
  • African American abolitionists · Biography
  • Abolitionists · United States · Biography
  • Antislavery movements · United States · History · 19th century
  • United States · Race relations · History · 19th century

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Chapter I: Frederick Douglass, the Slave

The life of Frederick Douglass is the history of American slavery epitomized in a single human experience. He saw it all, lived it all, and overcame it all. What he saw and lived and suffered was not too much to pay, however, for a great career. “It is something,” as he himself said, “to couple one’s name with great occasions, and it was a great thing to me to be permitted to bear some humble part in this, the greatest that had come thus far to the American people.”

Tradition says he was of noble lineage, but of this there is no written record. Frederick Douglass was born in the little town of Tuckahoe in Talbot County on the eastern shore of Maryland, supposedly in the month of February, 1817. The exact date of his birth was made the subject of diligent search by him in the days of his manhood and freedom, but nothing more definite than the month and year could be established. He gleaned so much as this, he says, “from certain events, the date of which I have since learned.”

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Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. Preface
  3. Chapter I: Frederick Douglass, the Slave
  4. Chapter II: Back to Plantation Life
  5. Chapter III: Escape from Slavery; Learning the Ways of Freedom
  6. Chapter IV: Beginning of His Public Career
  7. Chapter V: Slavery and Anti-Slavery
  8. Chapter VI: Seeks Refuge in England
  9. Chapter VII: Home Again As a Freeman — New Problems and New Triumphs
  10. Chapter VIII: Free Colored People and Colonization
  11. Chapter IX: The Underground Railway and the Fugitive Slave Law
  12. Chapter X: Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown
  13. Chapter XI: Forebodings of the Crisis
  14. Chapter XII: Douglass’s Services in the Civil War
  15. Chapter XIII: Early Problems of Freedom
  16. Chapter XIV: Sharing the Responsibilities and Honors of Freedom
  17. Chapter XV: Further Evidences of Popular Esteem, with Glimpses into the Past
  18. Chapter XVI: Final Honors to the Living and Tributes to the Dead

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About this edition

This free edition of Frederick Douglass by Booker T. Washington comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #69692, released 2023-01-02. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Biographies, History - American.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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