Born on a Maryland plantation, Frederick Douglass-born Frederick Bailey-doesn't know the year of his birth. Separated from his mother in infancy, he sees her only a few times, always at night, before she dies. At the age of seven or eight, Frederick's mistress begins teaching him to read, until her furious husband forbids it. Frederick realizes then that reading is his path to freedom, and he determines to run away to the northern United States-whatever the cost.

In addition to the original text, this volume also includes 11 selected essays and speeches, among them the famous "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" (1852)