A newly edited collection of the seminal writings and speeches of a legendary writer, orator, and civil rights leader.

The life of Frederick Douglass is nothing less than the history of America in the 19th century from slavery to reconstruction. His influence was felt in the political sphere, major social movements, literary culture, and even international affairs. His resounding words tell not only his own remarkable story, but also that of a burgeoning nation forced to reckon with its tremulous moral ground. This compact volume offers a full course on a necessary historical figure, giving voice once again to a man whose guiding words are needed now as urgently as ever.

The Portable Frederick Douglass includes the full range of Douglass's writings, from autobiographical writings that span from his life as a slave child to his memories of slavery as an elder statesman in the late 1870s; his protest fiction (one of the first works of African American fiction); his brilliant oratory, constituting the greatest speeches of the Civil War era, which launched his political career; and his journalistic essays that range from cultural and political critique toart, literature, law, history, philosophy, and reform.

This compact volume offers a full course on the remarkable, diverse career of Frederick Douglass, letting us hear once more a necessary historical figure whose guiding voice is needed now as urgently as ever.


About the Author
Henry Louis Gates Jr is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research at Harvard University. An award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has authored or coauthored more than twenty books and created more than twenty documentary films, including his groundbreaking genealogy series Finding Your Roots. His six-part PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, earned an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and an NAACP Image Award. This series and his PBS documentary series Reconstruction: America after the Civil War were both honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. His most recent PBS documentary is Gospel.

Reviews
"indispensable (...) a timelessly rewarding read in its totality"
-Maria Popova



Book Information
ISBN 9780143106814
Author Frederick Douglass
Format Paperback
Page Count 624
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 192mm * 128mm * 36mm