In the Words of Frederick Douglass

John R. McKivigan is the Project Director and Editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers and Mary O'Brien Gibson Professor of United States History at IUPUI. Heather L. Kaufman is a research associate on the editorial staff of the Frederick Douglass Papers. John Stauffer is professor of English and American Literature and African American Studies and chair of the Program in the History of American Civilization at Harvard University. He is the author most recently of Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

• Foreword by John StaufferPrefaceIntroduction: A Life of ReformFrederick Douglass ChronologyThe Words of Frederick DouglassAbolition – African American Character – Alcohol – Animals – Aristocracy – Art – Assimilation – Autobiography – Boasting – Capital Punishment – Children – Christmas – Cities – Civil Rights – Civil War – Class – Colonization – Conscience – Constitution – Crime – Death – Declaration of Independence – Disagreement – Diversity – Education – Emancipation – Emigration – Employment – Evolution – Family – Fathers – Firsts – Fourth of July – France – Free Blacks – Free Speech – Freedom – Freedman's Savings & Trust Bank – Friendship – Fugitive Slaves – Government – Great Britain – Haiti – Harpers Ferry – History – Home – Humanity – Human Rights – Humor – Immigration – Individuality – Inertia – Innocence – Ireland – Justice – Labor – Law – Liberty – Lies – Life – Luck – Lynching – Morality – Mothers – Murder – Native Americans – Nature – Necessity – Nostalgia – Oppression – Optimism – Oratory – Parenting – Patriotism – Peace – People – Photography – Politics – Poverty – The Press – Principles – Progress – Property – Prosperity – Public Opinion – Racism – Realism – Reconstruction – Reform – Religion – Resignation – Respect – Revolution – Sectional Reconciliation – Self-Awareness – Self-Defense – Slaveholders – Slavery – Slaves – Sleep – Success – Suffrage – Tariffs – Time – Travel – Trust – Truth – Underground Railroad – Usefulness – Vices – Virtues – War – WomenNote on Editorial MethodSelected BibliographyIndex

Culled from The Frederick Douglass Papers (speeches, correspondence, editorials/essays, autobiographies), the quotations in this single volume are arranged in alphabetical order with nearly seven hundred included. Many are on topics associated with Douglass: the Underground Railroad, racism, slavery, and emancipation—to name a few. Surprising are the quotations on unexpected topics, including humor, luck, optimism, photography, and vices.... Scholars familiar with Douglass will find the introduction as useful, as will those new to his life and words. The 'Biographies and Studies of Frederick Douglass' in the selected bibliography is particularly useful.(Choice)