Abolitionism · African American political thought · 1818–1895
Frederick Douglass
Learn to read, speak out, resist: freedom is won, not granted.
Talbot County, Maryland · Baltimore · Rochester · Washington, D.C.
Reading guides
A thread to guide your reading.
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
A place to begin
Reading one’s way out of slavery
Follow how the Narrative links literacy, the fight with Covey and a deliberately untold escape into one argument: the enslaved are persons who claim their own freedom.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveGoing further
Retelling a life in freedom
Compare the second autobiography with the first to see how Douglass deepens his analysis of slavery and claims the right to interpret his own experience, not only to report it.
My Bondage and My FreedomGoing further
A nation judged by its own principles
Read the oration as an argument that turns the founders’ Declaration against a slaveholding republic while still finding in its principles a ground for hope.
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?Continue