Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The most famous memoir of its kind and a key text in the anti-slavery movement, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells the striking and emotionally charged story of one man's journey from slavery to freedom.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Dr. Lydia Plath.
Born into a life of slavery in Maryland 1818, Frederick Douglass spent his youth passed from master to master, from city to field, and subjected to unimaginable cruelty. Along this journey he sought knowledge, he learned to read and write, and he discovered that education was his key to salvation. Using everything he learned and fuelled by all he was forced to endure, Douglass managed to escape and then, eventually, to free himself from slavery. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a startlingly honest account of his struggle, played a fundamental role in the abolition of slavery, a movement that Douglass dedicated his life to.
Synopsis
Powerful and unflinching, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is a stark portrait of black experience in late nineteenth-century America and remains relevant to this day.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Dr. Sam Halliday.
James Weldon Johnson's fictional narrator first learns about his black heritage from a schoolteacher, a discovery which sparks a lifelong search for his place in the world. After his beloved mother dies, he embarks on a journey across America and beyond, first finding refuge in Georgia's all-black church community. There, his passion and skill for music flourishes and takes him from New York to Europe, playing ragtime for a rich white gentleman. Back in America's South, he witnesses an event so terrifying that it drives him to turn his back on his own heritage.