In the month of August, 1841, I attended an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, at which it was my happiness to become acquainted with Frederick Douglass, the writer of the following Narrative. He was a stranger to nearly every member of that body; but, having recently made his escape from the southern prison-house of bondage, and feeling his curiosity excited to ascertain the principles and measures of the abolitionists,-of whom he had heard a somewhat vague description while he was a slave,-he was induced to give his attendance, on the occasion alluded to, though at that time a resident in New Bedford. Fortunate, most fortunate occurrence!-fortunate for the millions of his manacled brethren, yet panting for deliverance from their awful thraldom!-fortunate for the cause of negro emancipation, and of universal liberty!-fortunate for the land of his birth, which he has already done so much to save and bless!-fortunate for a large circle of friends and acquaintances, whose sympathy and affection he has strongly secured by the many sufferings he has endured, by his virtuous traits of character, by his ever-abiding remembrance of those who are in bonds, as being bound with them!-fortunate for the multitudes, in various parts of our republic, whose minds he has enlightened on the subject of slavery, and who have been melted to tears by his pathos, or roused to virtuous indignation by his stirring eloquence against the enslavers of men!-fortunate for himself, as it at once brought him into the field of public usefulness, "gave the world assurance of a MAN," quickened the slumbering energies of his soul, and consecrated him to the great work of breaking the rod of the oppressor, and letting the oppressed go free!

This ebook collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is s generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text recount Douglass's life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. My Bondage and My Freedom is the second of three autobiographies written by Douglass, and is mainly an expansion of his first (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass), discussing in greater detail his transition from bondage to liberty. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Frederick Douglass' third autobiography in which he gave more details about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery in this volume than he could 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.