life and times of frederick douglass written by himself

Part one is devoted to Douglass’ life as a slave and part two to his life as a free man. Ruffin in his own words:ĭouglas was born a slave, he won his liberty he is of negro extraction, and consequently was despised and outraged he has by his own energy and force of character commanded the respect of the Nation he was ignorant, he has, agains law and by stealth and entirely unaided, educated himself he was poor, he has by honest toil and industry become rich and independent, so to speak he, a chattel slave of a hated and cruelly wronged race, in the teeth of American prejudice and in face of nearly every kind of hindrance and draw- back, has come to be one of the foremost orators of the age, with a reputation established on both sides of the Atlantic a writer of power and elegance of expression a thinker whose views are potent in controlling and shaping public opinion a high officer in the National Government a cultivated gentleman whose virtues as a husband, father, and citizen are the highest honor a man can have. Ruffin declares that the most remarkable contribution this country has given to the world is Frederick Douglass. Ruffin was the first African American graduate of Harvard Law School, the first African American to be elected to serve on the Boston City Council and the first African American judge in the United States. The book opens with an introduction by George Lewis Ruffin. He gives details of the Underground Railway and how it worked. In his two previous autobiographies he was unable to discuss this chapter of his life because it would have endangered other fugitive slaves and his own family. In this last autobiography he feels free to describe details of his escape from slavery and the transportation means he used, he also names individuals who helped him.

In it he revisits events of his previous autobiographies and connects them to later events in his life such as his relationship with John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, his life after the Civil War during reconstruction and his advocacy for women’s suffrage. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Douglass’ third autobiography published in 1881 and revised in 1892. Hartford, Connecticut: Park Publishing, Co. “No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty”.

Life and times of frederick douglass written by himself