Frederick Douglass

In 1838 Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped slavery in Maryland with assistance from his soon-to-be wife, a free Black woman, Anna Murray. They settled in Massachusetts, a center of Abolitionist effort. Douglass quickly became a leading orator, writer, and publisher in the anti-slavery movement, as he would, as well, for women's suffrage, and equality for Native Americans and Chinese immigrants.

Over 175 years, the frontispiece portrait of Douglass in this first edition of his first book, published in Boston, has imprinted itself on the opposite title page. This book is one of many primary sources (pamphlets, serials, and books) on slavery and Abolition in Tisch Special Collections.