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Douglass Day 2024 & Frederick Douglass Research Materials: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words

This guide offers materials for the Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon on February 14, 2024 as well as a research materials on the life and work of Frederick Douglass at Fordham and beyond.

Frederick Douglass in His Own Words

Content note:

Any item marked with an open lock is open access. That means the content is freely available to anyone online.

Autobiographies

► Douglass penned three autobiographical works in book form throughout his life. Find editions of each work below:

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

More print & electronic editions
See catalog list for print and electronic editions of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855.

More print & electronic editions
See catalog list for print and electronic editions of My Bondage and My Freedom.

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Hartford, Conn: Park Publishing Company, 1881.

More print & electronic editions
See catalog list for print and electronic editions of Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.

Open Access Journalism, Books, and Pamphlets

► Find autobiographies, journalism, and pamphlets of speeches (like the one below) via HathiTrust Digital Library

Two Speeches, by Frederick Douglass; One on West India Emancipation, Delivered at Canandaigua, Aug. 4th, and the Other on the Dred Scott Decision, Delivered in New York, On the Occasion of the Anniversary of the American Abolition Society, May, 1857 by Frederick Douglass
C.P. Dewey, Printer, American Office, 1857.

Speeches

► Some speeches by Frederick Douglass are anthologized in books:

The Speeches of Frederick Douglass : A Critical Edition by Frederick Douglass and John R. McKivigan, Julie Husband, Heather L. Kaufman (eds.)
Yale University Press, 2018.
Call number [RH Stacks] E449 .D68 2018
The Essential Douglass [electronic resource] : Selected Writings & Speeches by Frederick Douglass and Nicholas Buccola (ed.)
Hackett Publishing Company Incorporated, 2016.
Frederick Douglass : Selected Speeches and Writings by Frederick Douglass and Philip S. Foner and Yuval Taylor (eds.)
Lawrence Hill Books, 1999.
Call number [RH Stacks] E449 .D7345 1999

Listen to Frederick Douglass

► Listen to the words of Frederick Douglass as performed by the noted activist, actor, director, and writer, Ossie Davis:

The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass [sound recording (streaming audio)] by Frederick Douglass; Ossie Davis (performer)
Smithsonian Folkways, 1966-1968.
Speeches by Frederick Douglass [sound recording (streaming audio)] by Frederick Douglass; Ossie Davis (performer)
Smithsonian Folkways, 1977.
A Voice Ringing O'er the Gale! [sound recording (streaming audio)] : The Oratory of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass; Ossie Davis (performer)
Smithsonian Folkways, 2009.

Fiction

Douglass, Frederick. "The Heroic Slave." In Autographs for Freedom, edited by Julia Griffiths and the Rochester Ladies' Anti-slavery Society. pp. 174-239. Boston: J. P. Jewett and Company, 1853.

The Heroic Slave by Frederick Douglass with John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, Robert S. Levine, John Stauffer (eds.)
Yale University Press, 2015.
Call number [RH Stacks] PS1549.D66 H47 2015

Newspapers

► Check out the newspapers where Frederick Douglass was a writer and/or editor:

Frederick Douglass Newspapers (1847 to 1874) via the Library of Congress
Learn about Douglass's work as a newspaper editor and find access to articles.
The North Star
1847-1851.
Frederick Douglass' Paper
1851-1859.
Douglass' Monthly
Volumes 1-5 covering 1859-1863.
New National Era
1870-1874.

Personal Papers & Letters

The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One : Speeches, Debates, and Interviews, vols. 1-3. by Frederick Douglass; John W. Blassingame and John R. McKivigan (eds.)
Yale University Press, 1979-1985.
Call number [RH Stacks] E449 .D733 vols. 1-3.
Additional volumes are on order.

Frederick Douglass Papers – Digital Edition
Offers digital access to some of content from print volumes in the Frederick Douglass Papers project through Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Writing from International Trips

Frederick Douglass and Ireland [electronic resource] : In His Own Words, 2 Vols. by Frederick Douglass; Christine Kinealy (editor)
Routledge, 2018.

Reference & Instruction Department

Reference & Instruction Department
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