Frederick Douglass

by William S. McFeely

Overview

“A detailed, finely written portrait of the imposing 19th-century leader.” —David Levering Lewis, New York Times Book Review

Born into but escaped from slavery, Frederick Douglass—orator, journalist, autobiographer; revolutionary on behalf of a just America—was a towering figure, at once consummately charismatic and flawed. His Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) galvanized the antislavery movement and is one of the truly seminal works of African-American literature. In this Lincoln Prize– winning biography, William S. McFeely captures the many sides of Douglass— his boyhood on the Chesapeake; his self-education; his rebellion and rising expectations; his marriage, affairs, and intense friendships; his bitter defeat and transcendent courage—and re-creates the high drama of a turbulent era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393634112
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
Lexile:	1280L (what's this?)
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

William S. McFeely is Abraham Baldwin Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Yankee Stepfather: General O. O. Howard and the Freedmen; Grant: A Biography, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Parkman Prize; Frederick Douglass, which received the Lincoln Prize; Sapelo’s People: A Long Walk into Freedom; and Proximity to Death.

Table of Contents

Illustrations xiii

1 Tuckahoe 1

2 Wye House 10

3 Fells Point 26

4 St. Michaels 42

5 The Freeland Farm 52

6 Baltimore 62

7 New Bedford 80

8 Nantucket 93

9 Lynn 98

10 Pendleton 113

11 Cork 129

12 Edinburgh 142

13 4 Alexander Street 159

14 25 Buffalo Street 178

15 South Avenue 201

16 Tremont Street 221

17 Fort Wagner 238

18 Philadelphia 261

19 Mount Vernon 277

20 Kansas 290

21 1507 Pennsylvania Avenue 300

22 Uniontown 318

23 Niagara Falls 333

24 Africa 353

25 Port-au-Prince 364

26 Môle St. Nicolas 377

27 Chicago 391

28 Cedar Hill 408

29 Chesapeake Bay 417

Notes 421

Bibliography 463

Acknowledgments 483

Index 489

Editorial Reviews

A runaway slave at 20, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) won worldwide renown as a spokesman for the abolitionist cause, edited an influential antislavery weekly and helped organize black regiments during the Civil War. After the Emancipation Proclamation he aggressively championed full citizenship for his fellow black Americans. In this unhurried and beautifully crafted biography, the author presents the known facts of Douglass's stormy life and reveals the man behind the icon: his complex and ambiguous friendships with William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown and other figures of the day; his gossip-stirring relationships with several dynamic white women; his controversial tenure as U.S. minister to Haiti near the end of his life. McFeely analyzes Douglass's autobiographical writings, probing insightfully into the complicated psyche of this heroic figure. The biography is a major work of scholarship that brings into vivid focus the nature of slave culture and racial prejudice in 19th-century America. McFeely, a history professor at the University of Georgia, won a Pulitizer Prize for Grant: A Biography. Photos. BOMC, History Book Club and QPB selections. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

YA-- This excellent biography fluently tells the life story of Douglass, one of the 19th century's most famous writers and speakers on abolitionist and human rights causes. It traces his life from his birth as a slave in Maryland, through his self-education, escape to freedom, and subsequent lionization as a renowned orator in England and the United States. Readers familiar with his life will be grateful for the little-known information about his family, and a general audience will enjoy the well-rounded, literate stories of Douglass's contemporaries. Fascinating, too, are accounts of the era's politics, such as the racist views held by some abolitionist leaders and the ways in which many policies made in post-Civil War times have worked to the detriment of today's civil rights movement. The chapter on Frederick Douglass and John Brown is, in itself, interesting enough to commend this powerful biography. The seldom-seen photographs, the careful chapter notes, documentation, and acknowledgements will encourage YAs to become not only dedicated Douglass historians but also avid William McFeely fans.-- Isabelle Bligh, Edison High School, Alexandria, VA

School Library Journal

"Compelling. . . . Suggests that the Age of Douglass was this nation’s greatest epoch. . . . What a time. What a book."

Los Angeles Times - Ishmael Reed

"Absolutely nonpareil. . . . This biography—tender and critical, respectful yet observant—presents a character of Frederick Douglass that is more thoroughly human than seemed possible in careful scholarship."

Boston Globe - Nell Irvin Painter

"A masterpiece….[W]ill rightfully assume its place as the standard biography of a truly great figure in the nation’s past."

New York Newsday

"Stunning. . . . This illuminating portrait dispenses with the myths."

Financial Times