About the book
Frederick Douglass published his second autobiography in 1855, expanding his first, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, with a fuller account of his passage from bondage to liberty. As the story unfolds he moves from enslaved man to fugitive to reformer, and the book weighs the meaning of slavery, race and freedom alongside the power of faith and literacy. After gaining his freedom Douglass became an abolitionist, orator, newspaper publisher and advocate for women's rights. James McCune Smith, described by Douglass as the foremost black influence on him, wrote the introduction. The 1855 text includes an appendix of excerpts from his speeches and a letter addressed to his former master.
Ryan Holiday put it on his list of life-changing biographies, drawn to how Douglass taught himself to read, saw that slavery depended on his consent and walked away, then became one of America's leading intellectuals.
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Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
A man is born a slave. Man teaches himself to read. Man decides he will no longer consent to being whipped, realizes that slavery is dependent on this consent and then leaves it. In fact, his self-education was so complete that he went on to become one of America’s foremost intellectuals. That is the life of Frederick Douglass. You need to read it.
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