WorkFrederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, 1845)

Frederick Douglass (c. 1818–1895) · Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, 1845

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Documented 1845

Books

Selected engagements, in chronological order.

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this work is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →

AttestedConfirmed readingEvidence ↓

Confirmed reading

Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had this work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.

undatedNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by HimselfAttested
“Considered merely as a narrative, we have never read one more simple, true, coherent, and warm with genuine feeling.”
Life Without and Life Within (essays)
'We have never read one more simple, true, coherent...narrative' is an explicit first-person statement of having read this specific work.

When Fuller engaged with this work

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed

IV. Transcendentalist

V. New York1record

VI. Europe

✦. Memoirs (1852)

1810

1820

1832

1836

1844

1846

1850

1845—

New-York Daily Tribune

“Frederick Douglass” · June 10, 1845 · p. 1

excerpted · analyzed · quoted · read

“* Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself.”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860.

A footnote at lines 4863-4864 explicitly identifies the work as 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself.' Fuller quotes extensively from the 1845 Narrative, including the "Home Plantation" passage, the account of slave songs, and the passage concerning his mother.