Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland, and became one of the major literary figures of the 19th century. Taught to read by his slave owner's mistress, he went on to become the greatest orator of his day and a leading abolitionist and writer. Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass used his own story to condemn slavery through widely delivered speeches. By the Civil War, he was the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. Douglass was both a fierce critic of the United States and a radical patriot. After the war, he remained committed to the Republican party and the cause of black civil and political rights, though he sometimes disagreed politically with younger African Americans. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, he bore witness to slavery's brutality with dignity and intelligence. David W. Blight's biography draws on new information from a private collection and recently discovered issues of Douglass's newspapers. It covers Douglass's two marriages and his complex extended family. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in History, as well as the Bancroft, Parkman, Los Angeles Times, Lincoln, Plutarch, and Christopher awards.