The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: Written by Himself

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass was Douglass' third autobiography. In it, he was able to go into greater detail about his life as a slave and his escape from slavery, as he and his family were no longer in any danger from the reception of his work.

In this engrossing narrative, he recounts early years of abuse; his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom, abolitionist campaigns, and his crusade for full civil rights for former slaves. It is also the only of Douglass' autobiographies to discuss his life during and after the Civil War, including his encounters with American Presidents such as Lincoln, Grant, and Garfield.

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Who was Frederick Douglass?

Frederick Douglass was an 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 oratory and incisive antislavery writings. 

Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Likewise, Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. This is his story.  

Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of over 30 internationally best-selling biographies, including the London Sunday Times best seller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced over 700 original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well known movie actor. BUY IT HERE NOW!

 OTHER BOOKS

• Life and Times of Frederick Douglass 
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave 
• My Bondage and My Freedom 
•  What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 

REVIEWS

RJM

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Insights from a Remarkable Man

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2015

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Frederick Douglass’ autobiography is compelling. He was born into slavery, liberated himself, became a powerful abolitionist speaker, and counseled American presidents. He was a most remarkable man. As a slave, Frederick Douglass was prohibited from obtaining a formal education, but his autobiography demonstrates the power a motivated individual can have in learning outside of the classroom, a lesson we should never forget.

Frederick Douglass had direct, personal experience with historical events and personalities. His unique insights into slavery, the Civil War era, and Abraham Lincoln are fascinating as is his commentary concerning human nature in general. He provides a perspective of the era that I have not found in other books, particularly his views of Abraham Lincoln (pages 250-260 & 353-358).

There is much to learn from this book, which is well worth reading. The following are some illustrative passages from the book:

“Very well,” thought I. “Knowledge makes a child unfit to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom. (page 50)

There, too, was my dear old father [Douglass' spiritual leader, not biological his father], the pious Lawson, who was in all the Christian graces the very counterpart of “Uncle Tom” – the resemblance so perfect that he might have been the original of Mrs. Stowe’s Christian hero. (page 66)

The slaveholders there, like slaveholders elsewhere, preferred to see the slaves engaged in degrading sports, rather than acting like moral and accountable beings. (page 103) … In this Christian country men and women were obligated to hide in barns and woods and trees from professing Christians, in order to learn to read the Holy Bible. (page 104)

To make a contented slave, you must make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible to annihilate his power of reason. ( page 130)

Regarding Abraham Lincoln - I at once felt myself in the presence of an honest man – one whom I could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt. (page 251) … In a word, in all that he did, or attempted, he made it manifest that the one great and all-commanding object with him was the peace and preservation of the Union, and that this was the motive and mainspring of all his measures. (page 257) … Our faith in him was often taxed and strained to the uttermost, but it never failed. … We came to the conclusion that the hour and the man of our redemption had somehow met in the person of Abraham Lincoln. (page 355)

I know of no class of my fellow men, however just, enlightened, and humane, which can be wisely and safely trusted absolutely with the liberties of any other class. (page 274)

I esteem myself a good, persistent hater of injustice and oppression, but my resentment ceases when they cease, and I have no heart to visit upon children the sins of their fathers. (page 288)

I have aimed to assure them [black Americans] that knowledge can be obtained under difficulties – that poverty may give place to competency – that obscurity is not an absolute bar to distinction, and that a way is open to welfare and happiness to all who will resolutely and wisely pursue that way – that neither slavery, stripes, imprisonment, nor proscription need extinguish self-respect, crush manly ambition, or paralyze effort – that no power outside of himself can prevent a man from sustaining an honorable character … (page 350)

The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal. We shall reap as we sow. There is no escape. The conditions of success are universal and unchangeable. The nation or people which shall comply with them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and will perhaps disappear altogether. No power beneath the sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle people prosperous or a licentious people happy. (page 371) BUY YOURS!

Wayne L. Adamson

5.0 out of 5 stars Douglas is an excellent writer and his vocabulary certainly was very impressive for ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2018

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I read this book only because I learned about it through my grandson who was "forced" to read it in school. I decided that I had to pick it up and read it for myself. Let's get this straight: Douglas is an excellent writer and his vocabulary certainly was very impressive for a former slave who was mostly self taught. Everything seems to point to the fact that he was a brilliant man. This should be required reading for every high school student. If you want to get an inside look at life as a slave and a black man in the era leading up to and into the Civil War this book is a good place to start. BUY YOURS NOW!

 The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: Written by Himself