.
"A roaring, ranting, sleek man-thief, Who lived on mutton, veal, and beef, Yet never would afford relief To needy, sable sons of grief, Was big with heavenly union. "'Love not the world,' the preacher said, And winked his eye, and shook his head; He seized on Tom, and Dick, and Ned, Cut short their meat, and clothes, and bread, Yet still loved heavenly union. "Another preacher whining spoke Of One whose heart for sinners broke: He tied old Nanny to an oak, And drew the blood at every stroke, And prayed for heavenly union. "Two others oped their iron jaws, And waved their children-stealing paws; There sat their children in gewgaws; By stinting negroes' backs and maws, They kept up heavenly union. "All good from Jack another takes, And entertains their flirts and rakes, Who dress as sleek as glossy snakes, And cram their mouths with sweetened cakes; And this goes down for union."
Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds—faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my humble efforts—and solemnly pledging my self anew to the sacred cause,—I subscribe myself,
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
LYNN, Mass., April 28, 1845.
My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
CHAPTER II. Removed from My First Home
CHAPTER IV. A General Survey of the Slave Plantation
CHAPTER V. Gradual Initiation to the Mysteries of Slavery
CHAPTER VI. Treatment of Slaves on Lloyd’s Plantation
CHAPTER VII. Life in the Great House
CHAPTER VIII. A Chapter of Horrors
CHAPTER IX. Personal Treatment
CHAPTER XI. “A Change Came O’er the Spirit of My Dream”
CHAPTER XII. Religious Nature Awakened
CHAPTER XIII. The Vicissitudes of Slave Life
CHAPTER XIV. Experience in St. Michael’s
CHAPTER XV. Covey, the Negro Breaker
CHAPTER XVI. Another Pressure of the Tyrant’s Vice
CHAPTER XVII. The Last Flogging
CHAPTER XVIII. New Relations and Duties
CHAPTER XIX. The Run-Away Plot
CHAPTER XX. Apprenticeship Life
CHAPTER XXI. My Escape from Slavery
CHAPTER XXII. Liberty Attained
CHAPTER XXIII. Introduced to the Abolitionists
CHAPTER XXIV. Twenty-One Months in Great Britain
CHAPTER XXV. Various Incidents
LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER To My Old Master, Thomas Auld
WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?
INTRODUCTION
When a man raises himself from the lowest condition in society to the highest, mankind pay him the tribute of their admiration; when he accomplishes this elevation by native energy, guided by prudence and wisdom, their admiration is increased; but when his course, onward and upward, excellent in itself, furthermore proves a possible, what had hitherto been regarded as an impossible, reform, then he becomes a burning and a shining light, on which the aged may look with gladness, the young with hope, and the down-trodden, as a representative of what they may themselves become. To such a man, dear reader, it is my privilege to introduce you.
The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which follow, is not merely an example of self-elevation under the most adverse circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of the highest aims of the American anti-slavery movement. The real object of that movement is not only to disenthrall, it is, also, to bestow upon the Negro the exercise of all those rights, from the possession of which he has been so long debarred.
But this full recognition of the colored man to the right, and the entire admission of the same to the full privileges, political, religious and social, of manhood, requires