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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
They told his teacher that reading would ruin him for slavery. So he found another way to learn. 📖✊🏾
Who it's for
Douglass describes what slavery did to him in a controlled, lucid voice, then shows exactly what gave him back his sense of himself: learning to read against a ban, finding words for his condition, and physically resisting the man hired to break him.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Frederick Douglass's 1845 memoir of his life in slavery and his path to freedom. It describes his childhood separation from his mother, his time with the Auld family in Baltimore where he taught himself to read despite efforts to stop him, his brutal treatment under Edward Covey and the confrontation after which he was not beaten again, and his eventual escape to the North.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US (1845, English); free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, with free LibriVox recordings. In print in many editions and in libraries (Libby/Hoopla); commercial audiobooks.
Before you start
Heads up: Slavery's brutality and sexual exploitation.
Age: Ages 14+
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
