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 Summary | Preface Summary

This preface, being one of two prefaces to this piece, was written in 1845 by William Lloyd Garrison, a well-known abolitionist. Mr. Garrison was best known for publishing an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator from 1831 to 1865, before, during and after the Civil War. In this preface, Mr. Garrison describes a speech he heard at an anti-slavery convention he attended in August of 1841, four years earlier, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The speech was given by an escaped slave by the name of Frederick Douglass, who wrote a narrative of his life as a slave, which follows this preface. Garrison describes the emotions that were provoked among the crowd at the convention by Douglass's speeches, including Garrison's own hatred of slavery which was stirred by seeing Douglass and realizing what slavery has done to him.

Garrison goes on to describe the demeanor of Douglass as he spoke at the convention, as well as Garrison's own comments to the convention crowd after Douglass concluded his speech. Those comments made to the crowd focused on the eloquence with which Douglass had spoken, the risks that Douglass had taken, and a stirring call for the crowd to support the fight against slavery.

Next, Garrison describes ongoing efforts by himself and others to encourage Douglass to become an active participant in the anti-slavery movement and Douglass's transition from being uncertain and self-doubting to becoming a confident, eloquent public speaker against slavery.

Garrison then departs from the subject of Frederick Douglass and focuses momentarily on a discussion of the evils of slavery, including his quotation of a story from another abolitionist, Daniel O'Connell, describing in detail the life of an American sailor who was ravaged by being held as a white slave in Africa for three years.

Garrison returns to the subject of Douglass again, with observations about the credibility of Douglass's written narrative of his life, in light of the fact that it was written without assistance and with very little education. He also refers to the horrors of slavery experienced by Douglass as referred to in the narrative. Garrison takes this opportunity to launch into a sermon on the evils of slavery, and a description of some of the specific atrocities inflicted on Douglass and other slaves. He then concludes his preface to Douglass's narrative with his own call to arms, to ignite passions to the fight against the evil slaveholders.