My Bondage and My Freedom

He was one of the most astonishing men from a time period that included the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, and Frederick Douglass defied the standards of the 19th century. With some instruction from the kindly wife of a slavemaster, he taught himself to read and write and eventually escaped his human bondage, going on to become one of the most brilliant orators of the day and a best-selling author as well. His second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, gives his readers a more detailed impression of the period during which he transitioned from slave to freeman.