Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Name: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Author: David W. Blight
ISBN: 9781416590316

David W. Blight

awards won

score

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

David W. Blight

awards won

score

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History and won the Bancroft, Parkman, Los Angeles Times (biography), Lincoln, Plutarch, and Christopher Awards. As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery. Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass spoke widely, using his own story to condemn slavery. By the Civil War, Douglass had become the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. After the war he sometimes argued politically with younger African Americans, but he never forsook either the Republican party or the cause of black civil and political rights. In this biography, David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historian have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglass's newspapers. Blight's biography tells the fascinating story of Douglass's two marriages and his complex extended family.

Buy this book at Amazon