Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Publisher Marketing: 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! I shall never forget his first speech at the convention-the extraordinary emotion it excited in my own mind-the powerful impression it created upon a crowded auditory, completely taken by surprise-the applause which followed from the beginning to the end of his felicitous remarks. Review Citations: Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 749 (EAN 9780312075316, Paperback) Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 749 (EAN 9780451526731, Mass Market Paperbound) Ingram Paperback Advance 05/01/2005 pg. 63 (EAN 9780451529947, Mass Market Paperbound) Ingram Paperback Advance 01/01/2005 pg. 11 (EAN 9780345478238, Mass Market Paperbound) School Library Journal 11/01/2002 (EAN 9781584721659, Other) Library Journal 04/01/2003 (EAN 9781584721659, Other) Wilson Public Library Catalog 12/31/2008 pg. 976 (EAN 9780140390124, Paperback) Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/2013 pg. 1158 (EAN 9780140390124, Paperback) Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2002 pg. 92 (EAN 9780300087017, Paperback) Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2002 pg. 92 (EAN 9780300088311, Hardcover) Wilson Public Library Catalog 01/01/1998 pg. 749 (EAN 9780674601017, Paperback) Choice 07/01/2010 (EAN 9780872865273, Paperback) Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2010 pg. 67 (EAN 9780872865273, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  Douglass, Frederick Frederick Douglass (1818 1895), one of the most prominent figures in African American and U. S. history, was born into slavery and rose up to become an abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer.