The only original sources of information concerning the early life of
Frederick Douglass are the three autobiographies published by him
at various times; and the present writer, like all others who have
written of Mr. Douglass, has had to depend upon this personal record
for the incidents of Mr. Douglass's life in slavery. As to the second
period of his life, his public career as anti-slavery orator and
agitator, the sources of information are more numerous and varied. The
biographies of noted abolitionists whose lives ran from time to time
in parallel lines with his make very full reference to Douglass's
services in their common cause, the one giving the greatest detail
being the very complete and admirable _Life and Times of William Lloyd
Garrison_, by his sons, which is in effect an exhaustive history of
the Garrisonian movement for abolition.
The files of the _Liberator_, Mr. Garrison's paper, which can be
found in a number of the principal public libraries of the country,
constitute a vast storehouse of information concerning the labors of
the American Anti-slavery Society, with which Douglass was identified
from 1843 to 1847, the latter being the year in which he gave up
his employment as agent of the society and established his paper
at Rochester. Many letters from Mr. Douglass's pen appeared in the
_Liberator_ during this period.
Mr. Douglass's own memories are embraced in three separate volumes,
published at wide intervals, each succeeding volume being a revision
of the preceding work, with various additions and omissions.
I. _Narrative of Frederick Douglass_. Writen by himself. (Boston,
1845: The American Anti-slavery Society.) Numerous editions of this
book were printed, and translations published in Germany and in
France.
II. _My Bondage and My Freedom_. (New York and Auburn, 1855: Miller,
Orton & Mulligan.) This second of Mr. Douglass's autobiographies has a
well-written and appreciative introduction by James M'Cune Smith
and an appendix containing extracts from Mr. Douglass's speeches on
slavery.
III. _Recollections of the Anti-slavery Conflict_. By Samuel J. May.
(Boston, 1869: Fields, Osgood & Co.) Collected papers by a veteran
abolitionist; contains an appreciative sketch of Douglass.
IV. _History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America_. By
Henry Wilson. 3 vols. (Boston, 1872: James R. Osgood & Co.) The author
presents an admirable summary of the life and mission of Mr. Douglass.
V. _William Lloyd Garrison and His Times_. By Oliver Johnson.
(Boston, 1881: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) One of the best works on the
anti-slavery agitation, by one of its most able, active and courageous
promoters.
VI. _Century Magazine_, November, 1881, "My Escape from Slavery." By
Frederick Douglass.
VII. _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_. Written by himself.
(Hartford, 1882: Park Publishing Company.)
VIII. _History of the Negro Race in America_. By George W. Williams.
2 vols. (New York, 1883: G. P. Putnam's Sons.) This exhaustive and
scholarly work contains an estimate of Douglass's career by an
Afro-American author.
IX. _The Life and Times of Wendell Phillips_. By George Lowell Austin.
(Boston, 1888: Lee & Shepard.) Contains a eulogy on Wendell Phillips
by Mr. Douglass.
X. _Life and Times of William Lloyd Garrison_. By his children. 4
vols. (New York, 1889: The Century Company. London: T. Fisher Unwin.)
Here are many details of the public services of Mr. Douglass,--his
relations to the Garrisonian abolitionists, his political views, his
oratory, etc.
XI. _The Cosmopolitan_, August, 1889. "Reminiscences." By Frederick
Douglass. In "The Great Agitation Series."
XII. _Frederick Douglass, the Colored Orator_. By Frederick May
Holland. (New York, 1891: Funk & Wagnalls.) This volume is one of the
series of "American Reformers," and with the exception of his own
books is the only comprehensive life of Douglass so far published. It
contains selections from many of his best speeches and a full list of
his numerous publications.
XIII. _Our Day_, August, 1894. "Frederick Douglass as Orator and
Reformer." By W. L. Garrison [(1838-1909), the first son and namesake
of the Abolitionist leader (1805-1879)].
XIV. _The Underground Railroad_. By William H. Siebert. With an
introduction by Albert Bushnell Hart. (New York, 1898: The Macmillan
Company.) Contains many references to Mr. Douglass's services in
aiding the escape of fugitive slaves.