Frederick Douglass

The Heroic Slave (Dodo Press) Frederick Douglass

The Heroic Slave, subtitled "A Thrilling Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty" is a short piece of fiction written by famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. When the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society asked Douglass for a short story to go in their collection, Autographs for Freedom, Douglass responded in turn with The Heroic Slave. The novella, published in 1852, was Douglass' first and only published work of fiction (though he did publish several autobiographical narratives). Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, 1818-1895) was an African- American, born into slavery, who became an editor, orator, author, publisher, statesman and reformer. Douglass was among the most prominent African-Americans of his time, and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history. His most well-known work is his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Critics frequently attacked the book as inauthentic, not believing that a black man could have produced so eloquent a piece of literature. It was an immediate bestseller. He went on to write a second autobiography; My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), his most accomplished account of his life on literary and philosophical terms.