In this sensitive intellectual biography David W. Blight undertakes the first systematic analysis of the impact of the Civil War on Frederick Douglass' life and thought, offering new insights into the meaning of the war in American history and in the Afro-American experience. Frederick Douglass' Civil War follows Douglass' intellectual and personal growth from the political crises of the 1850s through secession, war, black enlistment, emancipation, and Reconstruction. This book provides an engrossing story of Douglass' development of a social identity in relation to transforming events, and demonstrates that he saw the Civil War as the Second American Revolution, and himself as one of the founders of a new nation. Through Douglass' life, his voice, and his interpretations we see the Civil War era and its memory in a new light.

Selections of speeches and writings from the great abolitionist and statesman, focusing on the slave trade, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, suffrage for African-Americans, Southern reconstruction, and other vital issues.

The second volume of The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass traced the career of this outstanding leader of the Negro people during the crucial decade, 1850-1860. In that volume was presented Douglass' incisive analysis of the strategy and tactics of the Abolitionist movement, the Negro Convention movement, woman's rights, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the life and death of John Brown, the foundation of the Republican Party, and the elections of 1852, 1856, and 1860 . In volume 3, this astute analysis by one of the most brilliant minds of the nineteenth century relates to a decisive era in world history, the Civil War in the United States, which began on April 12, 1861 with the firing on Fort Sumter and ended at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Frederick Douglass was born enslaved in February 1818, but from this most humble of beginnings, he rose to become a world-famous orator, newspaper editor, and champion of the rights of women and African Americans. He not only survived slavery to live in freedom but also became an outspoken critic of the institution and an active participant in the U.S. political system. Douglass advised presidents of the United States and formally represented his country in the diplomatic corps. He was the most prominent African American activist of the nineteenth century, and he left a treasure trove of documentary evidence detailing his life in slavery and achievements in freedom. This volume gathers and interprets valuable selections from a variety of Douglass’s writings, including speeches, editorials, correspondence, and autobiographies.

"Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" is the third and last autobiography of Frederick Douglass. In this finial memoir Douglas gives more details about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery than he did in his two previous autobiographies. Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Contents: Author's Birth Removal From Grandmother's Troubles of Childhood A General Survey of the Slave Plantation A Slaveholder's Character A Child's Reasoning Luxuries at the Great House Characteristics of Overseers Change of Location Learning to Read Growing in Knowledge Religious Nature Awakened The Vicissitudes of Slave Life Experience in St. Michaels Covey, the Negro Breaker Another Pressure of the Tyrant's Vise The Last Flogging New Relations and Duties The Runaway Plot Escape From Slavery Life as a Freeman Introduced to the Abolitionists Recollections of Old Friends One Hundred Conventions Impressions Abroad Triumphs and Trials John Brown and Mrs. Stowe Increasing Demands of the Slave Power The Beginning of the End Secession and War Hope for the Nation Vast Changes Living and Learning Weighed in the Balance "Time Makes All Things Even" Incidents and Events "Honor to Whom Honor" Retrospection Later Life A Grand Occasion Doubts as to Garfield's Course Recorder of Deeds President Cleveland's Administration The Supreme Court Decision Defeat of James G. Blaine European Tour Continuation of European Tour The Campaign of 1888 Administration of President Harrison Minister to Haïti Continued Negotiations for the Môle St. Nicolas

I have neither been miserable because of the ill-feeling of those about me, nor indifferent to popular approval, and I think, upon the whole, I have passed a tolerably cheerful and even joyful life. I have never felt myself isolated since I entered the field to plead the cause of the slave, and demand equal rights for all. In every town and city where it has been my lot to speak, there have been raised up for me friends of both colors to cheer and strengthen me in my work. I have always felt, too, that I had on my side all the invisible forces of the moral government of the universe. -from Chapter 17: "Incidents and Events" American icon FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818-1895)-editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer-told his life story three times. First, in 1845's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he felt it necessary to explain how a man born in chains could rise to national prominence and respect. In 1855, with My Bondage and My Freedom, he expanded upon his story with a more in-depth and even more thoughtful exploration of his life as a slave and his journey to escape it. (Both astonishing-and essential-books are also available from Cosimo.) His third autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass-first published in 1881 and presented here in the thoroughly revised 1892 edition-is his most reflective, offering the perspective of a man at the end of long life well lived. Douglass retells the story of his childhood and escape from slavery, offering details that he could not previously reveal, with friends, family, and other innocents still in the thrall of slavemasters. Now, though, with the Civil War and Emancipation well behind the nation, Douglass can also offer more provocative analyses of his own battle for personal freedom and his fight for the very soul of the nation. This classic of African-American literature and of 19th-century American history is a must-read for anyone wishing to consider himself well-read.