My Bondage and My Freedom

After ten years of reflection following his legal emancipation in 1846 and his break with his mentor William Lloyd Garrison, ex-slave Frederick Douglass's second autobiography catapulted Douglass into the international spotlight as the foremost spokesman for American blacks, both freed and slave. My Bondage and My Freedom, written during his celebrated career as a speaker and newspaper editor, reveals the author of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) as more mature, forceful, analytical, and complex, with a deeper commitment to the fight for equal rights and liberties.