: My Bondage and My Freedom by Douglass Frederick - Douglass Frederick 1818-1895; Enslaved persons Maryland Social conditions 19th century; African American abolitionists Biography; Abolitionists United States Biography; Antislavery movements United States H

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MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM EDITOR'S PREFACE INTRODUCTION

RECEPTION SPEECH . At Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, Dr. Campbell's Reply LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER. . To My Old Master, Thomas Auld THE NATURE OF SLAVERY. Extract from a Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, INHUMANITY OF SLAVERY. Extract from A Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?. Extract from an Oration, at THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE. Extract from an Oration, at Rochester, July THE SLAVERY PARTY. Extract from a Speech Delivered before the A. A. S. THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. Extracts from a Lecture before Various

FOOTNOTES

MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM

EDITOR'S PREFACE

If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of ART, the history of its misfortune might be written in two very simple words--TOO LATE. The nature and character of slavery have been subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic representation; and after the brilliant achievements in that field, and while those achievements are yet fresh in the memory of the million, he who would add another to the legion, must possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or apologize for something worse than rashness. The reader is, therefore, assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not invited to a work of ART, but to a work of FACTS--Facts, terrible and almost incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless.

I am authorized to say that there is not a fictitious name nor place in the whole volume; but that names and places are literally given, and that every transaction therein described actually transpired.

Perhaps the best Preface to this volume is furnished in the following letter of Mr. Douglass, written in answer to my urgent solicitation for such a work:

DEAR FRIEND: I have long entertained, as you very well know, a somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for the public, which could, with any degree of plausibilty, make me liable to the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its own sake. Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti-slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. In my letters and speeches, I have generally aimed to discuss the question of Slavery in the light of fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious and open to all; making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. I have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws of human nature, every one of which is perpetually and flagrantly violated by the slave system. I have also felt that it was best for those having histories worth the writing--or supposed to be so--to commit such work to hands other than their own. To write of one's self, in such a manner as not to incur the imputation of weakness, vanity, and egotism, is a work within the ability of but few; and I have little reason to believe that I belong to that fortunate few.

These considerations caused me to hesitate, when first you kindly urged me to prepare for publication a full account of my life as a slave, and my life as a freeman.

Nevertheless, I see, with you, many reasons for regarding my autobiography as exceptional in its character, and as being, in some sense, naturally beyond the reach of those reproaches which honorable and sensitive minds dislike to incur. It is not to illustrate any heroic achievements of a man, but to vindicate a just and beneficent principle, in its application to the whole human family, by letting in the light of truth upon a system, esteemed by some as a blessing, and by others as a curse and a crime. I agree with you, that this system is now at the bar of public opinion--not only of this country, but of the whole civilized world--for judgment. Its friends have made for it the usual plea--"not guilty;" the case must, therefore, proceed. Any facts, either from slaves, slaveholders, or by-standers, calculated to enlighten the public mind, by revealing the true nature, character, and tendency of the slave system, are in order, and can scarcely be innocently withheld.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

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