Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Visceral, moving and appalling all at once. I’m glad I read it.

Class read, really enjoyed it, anyone should read this in their free time

This book was incredible, the writing and style of the text is very appealing to readers. I found this incredibly informal and a good read to show readers the reality of slavery and the treatment of African Americans during the time period. I had to read this book for a class assignment and I found it very enjoyable and something I would definitely recommend to other young readers. Personally, I really enjoyed the point in the book where he started giving dates of events, he did not know the day he was born, nor the date of a lot of the events that took place when he was an adolescent. When he is educated by one of his masters, he learns dates and he is able to provide the reader with time frames of a lot of the events in the novel.

A masterpiece that shouldn't have happened.

This is one of those books that makes you hate the human race. Amazing book. Amazing author. Immediately jumps up there as one of the best biographies ever written. I can't say anything other than that you have to read this book.

school read

4/5 ⭐️ I read this book since it was our class book and all but it was pretty good. I don’t really read/like nonfiction books but it was good. I just feel so bad for Douglass and all the other slaves. I honestly have no idea why white people thought they’re so much better in the 1800s.

To me seems like a showcase of self-reflective writing, combined with overwhelmingly convincing details, all undeservedly catered to privileged Americans

Exceptional is not a good enough word to describe this book. Frederick Douglass's strength to educate himself and to free himself from the shackles of bondage against all odds is inspiring. The dignity of the man is humbling to behold. He seems to be a wonderful speaker, so Douglass goes on my list of "I wish I could go back in time to see ....". A must-read.

“When I think that these precious souls are to-day shut up in the prisonhouse of slavery, my feelings overcome me, and I am almost ready to ask, «Does a righteous God govern the universe? And for what does he hold the thunders in his right hand, if not to smite the oppressor, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the spoiler?»”

Outstanding. Frederick Douglass' prose is pure poetry. Definitely reading My Bondage and My Freedom after this! PS: Listening to this at the end of each chapter is optional but definitely recommended: https://youtu.be/O-ZblMfZpuw

There is so much to say about this book, so many feelings but, I can't express them right now. This country that we live in has such profound and disgraceful beginnings from the moment Europeans set foot on this soil. I am so thankful that I was born during this time and not back when any of this was occurring. Yes this day and age has its embarrassments with race... The simple fact that people can't seem to get over the color of one's skin, the religions worshipped, the different ethnicities and cultures, but to have been born during the times in this book I would have surely not survived. Don't even get me started on the Christian hypocrites!!! I'm religious and yes I sin all the time, but to have done these atrocities against another human being and then hide behind the Bible!!! I'm just going to leave these quotes here for everyone to think upon: “The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class- leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole families,— sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,—leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.” "If you give a n****r an inch, he will take an ell. A n****r should know nothing but to obey his master--to do as he is told to do. Learning will spoil the best n****r in the world. Now, he said, if you teach that n****r how to read, there will be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy. These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering" I don't know how many times I have stressed that education is key...it can not be stressed enough. I am so very thankful that even though I grew up in the worst part of Philly known as "the badlands" my mother encouraged my siblings and I to read and to strive for excellence and to do better in life than what they have done. Thank you mom and dad!!! I am forever indebted to you for everything that you have done for us!! The youth today need to take education seriously, but I fear that people all over the world are still enslaved by ignorance and held back due to lack of education. With the ignorant youth coming up today what will the future hold for even this great nation we call the U.S.A.?

This book is too powerful for words.