Autobiographies
A self-educated man, Douglass secretly taught himself how to read and write. His prowess as a writer led him to be recognized as one of the greatest orators and leaders in American history. Douglass's three autobiographical narratives are testaments to his eloquence, intelligence, and fierce desire to end slavery in the United States. Tufts Special Collections houses first-edition copies of two of his three narratives: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) and My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Douglass wrote his final autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, in 1881. He maintained that "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom."