My Bondage and My Freedom

Fredrick Douglass (1817-1895) was an American leader of the abolitionist movement who was born into a life of slavery. In 1838 he escaped his enslavement and settled in a free black community in Massachusetts, where he established a newspaper; Douglass subsequently became a prominent abolitionist speaker. After the publication of Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass (1845) Douglas traveled to Europe, where he attracted large crowds. British supporters bought his legal freedom, and in 1847 he returned to the United States as a free man. Douglas went on to establish many abolitionist newspapers and wrote two more autobiographical works.