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Frederick Douglass: Speeches & Writings

The largest single-volume selection of Frederick Douglass’s writings ever published, presenting the full texts of thirty-four speeches and sixty-seven pieces of journalism | Includes the novella “The Heroic Slave” More

Edited by David W. Blight

Overview
News & Views
Table of Contents

Overview

Story of the Week “The Final Struggle,” Frederick Douglass
February 14, 2024

News Forthcoming: Spring 2024
July 5, 2023

Story of the Week Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All Its Phases”
April 13, 2023

Save $22.50 when you buy both Frederick Douglass volumes in a boxed set.

“I Have Come to Tell You Something About Slavery.” The title of Frederick Douglass’s first recorded speech, delivered in October 1841, just three years after his own escape from bondage, signaled the driving impulse of his extraordinary career: to lift the veil on American slavery and the white supremacist ideology that justified it. For more than five decades, from the antebellum period through the Civil War and Reconstruction and into the Gilded Age, Douglass used his voice and wielded his pen in support of abolition and emancipation, equal rights and human dignity. Inspired by the Hebrew prophets and by the language of Shakespeare and Robert Burns, he developed a unique oratorical and literary style that combined scriptural cadences with fierce irony, moral urgency, and keen insight.

Edited by Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer David W. Blight, this Library of America edition is the largest single-volume selection of Frederick Douglass’s writings ever published, presenting the full texts of thirty-four speeches and sixty-seven pieces of journalism. With startling immediacy, these writings chart the evolution of Douglass’s thinking about slavery and the U.S. Constitution; his eventual break with William Lloyd Garrison and many other abolitionists on the crucial issue of disunion; the course of his complicated relationship with Abraham Lincoln; and his deep engagement with the cause of women’s suffrage.

Here are such powerful works as “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” Douglass’s incandescent jeremiad skewering the hypocrisy of the slaveholding republic; “The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered,” a full-throated refutation of nineteenth-century racial pseudoscience; “Is it Right and Wise to Kill a Kidnapper?,” an urgent call for forceful opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act; “How to End the War,” in which Douglass advocates, just days after the fall of Fort Sumter, for the raising of Black troops and the military destruction of slavery; “There Was a Right Side in the Late War,” Douglass’s no-holds-barred attack on the “Lost Cause” mythology of the Confederacy; and “Lessons of the Hour,” an impassioned denunciation of lynching and disenfranchisement in the emerging Jim Crow South.

As a special feature the volume also presents Douglass’s only foray into fiction, the 1853 novella “The Heroic Slave,” about Madison Washington, leader of the real-life insurrection on board the domestic slave-trading ship Creole in 1841 that resulted in the liberation of more than a hundred enslaved people. Editorial features include detailed notes identifying Douglass’s many scriptural and cultural references, a newly revised chronology of his life and career, and an index.

David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University and the author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize. His other works include Frederick Douglass’ Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

Frederick Douglass: Speeches & Writings is kept in print by gifts to the Guardians of American Letters Fund from The Berkley Family Foundation Foundation and from Elizabeth W. Smith. They also provided project support for the volume.
News & Views

Story of the Week “The Final Struggle,” Frederick Douglass
February 14, 2024

News Forthcoming: Spring 2024
July 5, 2023

Story of the Week Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All Its Phases”
April 13, 2023

Interviews David W. Blight on Frederick Douglass, “prose poet of American democracy”
March 6, 2023

Video Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom with David W. Blight
February 22, 2023
Table of Contents

I Have Come to Tell You Something About Slavery: An Address
Lynn, Massachusetts, October 1841
American Prejudice and Southern Religion: An Address
Hingham, Massachusetts, November 4, 1841
To William Lloyd Garrison
The Liberator, November 18, 1842
To William Lloyd Garrison
The Liberator, September 26, 1845
My Experience and My Mission to Great Britain: An Address
Cork, Ireland, October 14, 1845
To William Lloyd Garrison
The Liberator, January 30, 1846
The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery: An Address
Dundee, Scotland, January 30, 1846
A Call for the British Nation to Testify against Slavery: An Address
Exeter, England, August 28, 1846
Farewell to the British People: An Address
London, England, March 30, 1847
Country, Conscience, and the Anti-Slavery Cause: An Address
New York, New York, May 11, 1847
To William Lloyd Garrison
The Liberator, June 11, 1847
To the National Anti-Slavery Standard
September 9, 1847
To Our Oppressed Countrymen
The North Star, December 3, 1847
The War with Mexico
The North Star, January 21, 1848
The Slaves’ Right to Revolt: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, May 30, 1848
The Rights of Women
The North Star, July 28, 1848
To My Old Master
The North Star, September 8, 1848
On Robert Burns and Scotland: An Address
Rochester, New York, January 25, 1849
Colonization
The North Star, January 26, 1849
The Constitution and Slavery
The North Star, March 16, 1849
The Destiny of Colored Americans
The North Star, November 16, 1849
Weekly Review of Congress
The North Star, March 15, 1850
At Home Again
The North Star, May 30, 1850
Prejudice against Color
The North Star, June 13, 1850
Do Not Send Back the Fugitive: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, October 14, 1850
An Antislavery Tocsin: An Address
Rochester, New York, December 8, 1850
Cuba and the United States
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, September 4, 1851
Rochester and Slave-Catching
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, October 23, 1851
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? An Address
Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852
Our Position in the Present Presidential Canvass
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, September 10, 1852
Learn Trades or Starve!
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, March 4, 1853
A Day and a Night in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, March 4, 1853
No Peace for the Slaveholder: An Address
New York, New York, May 11, 1853
The Industrial College
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, January 20, 1854
The Nebraska Controversy—The True Issue
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, February 24, 1854
Is it Right and Wise to Kill a Kidnapper?
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, June 2, 1854
The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered: An Address
Hudson, Ohio, July 12, 1854
Slavery, Freedom, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act: An Address
Chicago, Illinois, October 30, 1854
Self-Elevation—Rev. S. R. Ward
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, April 13, 1855
The Final Struggle
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, November 16, 1855
The Republican Party—Our Position
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, December 7, 1855
What Is My Duty as an Anti-Slavery Voter?
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, April 25, 1856
The Do-Nothing Policy
Frederick Douglass’ Paper, September 1856
The Dred Scott Decision: An Address
New York, New York, May 1857
The True Issue
Douglass’ Monthly, January 1859
Progress of Slavery
Douglass’ Monthly, August 1859
The Ballot and the Bullet
Douglass’ Monthly, October 1859
To the Rochester Democrat and American
New York Herald, November 4, 1859
Capt John Brown Not Insane
Douglass’ Monthly, November 1859
To My American Readers and Friends
Douglass’ Monthly, November 1859
The American Constitution and the Slave: An Address
Glasgow, Scotland, March 26, 1860
The Republican Party
Douglass’ Monthly, August 1860
The Late Election
Douglass’ Monthly, December 1860
John Brown’s Contributions to the Abolition Movement: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, December 3, 1860
The Union and How to Save It
Douglass’ Monthly, February 1861
The Inaugural Address
Douglass’ Monthly, April 1861
A Trip to Hayti
Douglass’ Monthly, May 1861
The Fall of Sumter
Douglass’ Monthly, May 1861
How to End the War
Douglass’ Monthly, May 1861
The American Apocalypse: An Address
Rochester, New York, June 16, 1861
Fighting Rebels with Only One Hand
Douglass’ Monthly, September 1861
The Real Peril of the Republic
Douglass’ Monthly, October 1861
Signs of the Times
Douglass’ Monthly, November 1861
What Shall Be Done with the Slaves If Emancipated?
Douglass’ Monthly, January 1862
The Black Man’s Future in the Southern States: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, February 5, 1862
The Situation of the War
Douglass’ Monthly, March 1862
The Slaveholders’ Rebellion: An Address
Himrods Corner, New York, July 4, 1862
The Spirit of Colonization
Douglass’ Monthly, September 1862
The President and His Speeches
Douglass’ Monthly, September 1862
Reply to Postmaster General Montgomery Blair
Douglass’ Monthly, October 1862
Emancipation Proclaimed
Douglass’ Monthly, October 1862
The Work of the Future
Douglass’ Monthly, November 1862
What Shall Be Done with the Freed Slaves?
Douglass’ Monthly, November 1862
January First 1863
Douglass’ Monthly, January 1863
The Proclamation and a Negro Army: An Address
New York, New York, February 6, 1863
Men of Color, To Arms!
Douglass’ Monthly, March 1863
Why Should a Colored Man Enlist?
Douglass’ Monthly, April 1863
Valedictory
Douglass’ Monthly, August 1863
The Mission of the War: An Address
New York, New York, January 13, 1864
What the Black Man Wants: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, January 26, 1865
Reconstruction
Atlantic Monthly, December 1866
Our Composite Nationality: An Address
Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1869
Salutatory
The New National Era, September 8, 1870
Woman and the Ballot
The New National Era, October 27, 1870
Demands of the Hour
The New National Era, April 6, 1871
The Unknown Dead: An Address
Arlington, Virginia, May 30, 1871
Wasted Magnanimity
The New National Era, August 10, 1871
The Labor Question
The New National Era, October 12, 1871
Give Us the Freedom Intended for Us
The New National Era, December 5, 1872
Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln: An Address
Washington, D .C ., April 14, 1876
There Was a Right Side in the Late War: An Address
New York, New York, May 30, 1878
The Negro Exodus from the Gulf States: A Paper
Saratoga, New York, September 12, 1879
The Color Line
The North American Review, June 1881
This Decision Has Humbled the Nation: An Address
Washington, D .C ., October 22, 1883
The Future of the Negro
The North American Review, July 1884
The Future of the Colored Race
The North American Review, May 1886
Give Women Fair Play: An Address
Washington, D .C ., March 31, 1888
A Fervent Hope for the Success of Haiti: An Address
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, December 11, 1889
Haiti Among the Foremost Civilized Nations of the Earth: An Address
Chicago, Illinois, January 2, 1893
Self-Made Men: An Address
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, March 1893
Lessons of the Hour: An Address
Washington, D .C ., January 9, 1894
Appendix: “The Heroic Slave” (1853)

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