Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
An American Slave, Written by HimselfThird Edition ©2017
ISBN:9781319049966
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ISBN:9781319048891
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In this revised edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, David Blight has tightened and revised the introduction to reflect new insights gained from recent research, particularly on how much Douglass modeled his writing on Biblical rhetoric and stories and the abolitionist’s appearance as a character in many works of contemporary fiction. Part Three features selected reviews of Douglass’s writings along with his own letters and speeches, with substantial explanatory headnotes to aid students. These documents now include a letter written by Douglass to William Lloyd Garrison upon his arrival in the British Isles in 1845, just after publication of the Narrative, the first of many such public letters through which the author and orator revealed how his autobiography was received as well as how he was himself undergoing a personal transformation. This volume features updated versions of the pedagogical student aids from prior editions, such as the chronology of Frederick Douglass’s life, questions for consideration, illustrations, selected bibliography, and index.
“The explanatory notes provided by Blight artfully explain and illuminate the intellectual and historical contexts in which Douglass wrote without obscuring the text of the Narrative or diminishing its power and eloquence.”
— Charles Sanders, Kansas State University“Having consistently used the book now for almost a decade, I can say that it remains the most popular of my required books. The introduction places Douglass in a historical context comprehensible to undergraduates and offers them shrewd insights into how he drafted his autobiography.”
— David Gutzke, Southwest Missouri State University“The text is flawless, the notes informative, and the collateral readings well chosen.”
— Susan Ditto, University of Mississippi
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Table of Contents
Preface
Illustrations
Introduction: “A Psalm of Freedom”
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
Preface by William Lloyd Garrison, May 1, 1845
Letter from Wendell Phillips, Esq., April 22, 1845
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Appendix
Related Documents*1. Caleb Bingham, *Dialogue between a Master and a Slave,
1797
2. Margaret Fuller, Review of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
an American Slave, June 10, 1845
3. Ephraim Peabody, Narratives of Fugitives Slaves, July 1849
4. Nathaniel P. Rogers, Southern Slavery and Northern Religion: Two
Addresses, February 11, 1844
5. Frederick Douglass, My Slave Experience in Maryland, May 6, 1845
6. Frederick Douglass, Letter to William Lloyd Garrison, September 1, 1845
7. Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? July 5,
1852
A Frederick Douglass Chronology (1818-1895)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Authors
David W. Blight
David W. Blight is Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery and Abolition at Yale University. He previously taught at Amherst College and Harvard University, as well as seven years as a high school teacher in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. His books include an edition of Douglass’s second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom; American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era; Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory; the Bedford edition of W. E. B. DuBois’s The Souls of Black Folk with co-editor Robert Gooding-Williams; and Frederick Douglass’s Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee. He is at work on a new
full life of Douglass.
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