Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) is the first autobiography of Frederick Douglass, telling his life in slavery in Maryland and his escape. It became a best-seller and one of the most powerful weapons of the abolitionist movement.
The book
Douglass describes his birth on a plantation, his separation from his mother, the cruelty of overseers, his years in Baltimore and the moment when he understood that learning to read was the path to freedom.
The turning point is his fight with Edward Covey, a man known for 'breaking' slaves, after which Douglass resolved to be free. He does not reveal how he escaped, so as not to endanger those who helped others.
Publication
The book was published in Boston in May 1845 by the Anti-Slavery Office, with prefaces by the abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. It sold some five thousand copies in four months and was soon translated into French and Dutch.
Because it named real people and places, it put Douglass at risk of capture under the Fugitive Slave laws; he left for Britain and Ireland a few months later.
Importance
Some Northern readers doubted that a former slave could write so well. The book answered them, and became the most famous of the many slave narratives of the period.
Douglass later expanded his story in My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).
Anecdotes
Told after the escape
Douglass kept the details of his escape secret in 1845 so as not to endanger others. He revealed them only in 1881, in his third autobiography.
Proof by name
Douglass deliberately gave the real names of his masters and of the plantations, to prove to sceptical readers that his story was true.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Narrative published?
In May 1845, in Boston.
Why did Douglass go to Britain after publishing it?
Because the book identified him and his former owner, he risked being captured and returned to slavery.
How many autobiographies did Douglass write?
Three: the Narrative (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised in 1892).