Composite Nation

Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) was an abolitionist, social reformer, orator, and writer. One of the most influential Americans of the nineteenth century, Douglass was known for his rhetorical brilliance. Douglass's first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, became an immediate bestseller and was central to the abolitionist movement. Notable associates and friends of Douglass included William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, John Brown, and Ida B. Wells. David W. Blight is the author or editor of over a dozen books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom and annotated editions of Douglass's first two autobiographies. At Yale University, Blight is Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.