"Now," said he, "if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to
read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a
slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his
master. As to himself, it would do him no good, but a great deal of
harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." These words sank deep
into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and
called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and
special revelation... -from Chapter VI It may be a measure of how far we
have come, as a nation and as human beings, to feel shock to realize
that one of the greatest Americans ever to have graced the cultural
stage-editor, orator, author, statesman, and reformer FREDERICK DOUGLASS
(1818-1895)-was born into bondage, merely by dint of the color of his
skin. Taught to read and write by the wife of his owner, however, he
escaped into an intellectual world that would become his extraordinary
battleground for the freedom of those enslaved and, indeed, for the
future of the United States. This work, first published in 1845, is the
first of three autobiographies Douglass penned, and it became one of the
most influential documents of a life in slavery ever written, as well as
a powerful spur to the then-burgeoning abolitionist movement. From his
childhood of abuse, neglect, and separation from family to his dramatic
escape to the North, this is a stunning work of both literature and
politics. An absolute classic not only of African-American history but
of the history of the advance of human civilization, this is essential
reading for anyone wishing to understand the turbulent story of the
United States in the 19th century.
