Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot county, Maryland, in the United States around 1818. In 1838, he managed to escape and get to New York. The best book to read about his life is his own memoir. He wrote three, but the first to be published was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845.
Another very good book about Frederick Douglass’s life is Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by Yale historian David Blight, a biography that puts Douglass in historical context. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for history.
Also fascinating to dip into is a coffee table book: Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American. Douglass was passionate about photography and as well as many portraits this book includes his four essays on photography.
Books by Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
by Frederick Douglass
This is one of the three memoirs written by Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century American who escaped slavery and became a leading abolitionist. The book was a bestseller in his lifetime and remains an incredibly moving read. It's a short book, and if you have a free weekend afternoon, learning firsthand what it was like to be a slave is a rewarding way to spend it.
My Bondage and My Freedom
by Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom is Frederick Douglass's second memoir, published in 1855. Like his first autobiography, it tells the story of his early life but also adds more about the years after his successful escape from slavery and his work as an anti-slavery campaigner, including a trip to England.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass By Himself
by Frederick Douglass
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is Douglass's third and final—and longest—memoir, published three years before he died in 1895 at the age of 77. By this time he had met Abraham Lincoln and lived through the American Civil War. He had spent more than 50 years campaigning against slavery and its aftermath, for as he wrote, "Though slavery was abolished, the wrongs of my people were not ended."
The Best Books for Juneteenth recommended by Barbara Krauthamer