Frederick Douglass

This is a short biography by Charles W. Chesnutt of Frederick Douglass, the American social reformer, orator, and writer, first published in 1899. Chestnutt was an African-American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer who was known for his novels exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. This book starts off with a chronology of Douglass' life and then goes on to talk about his childhood as the son of a slave in Talbot County, Maryland, his escape, his becoming a free man, and his subsequent rise as an abolitionist and statesman. It also discusses the fall of slavery and the emancipation of African-Americans, Douglass' visits to England and Ireland, as well as across America.