My Bondage and My Freedom | Page 4

LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
XXI--MY ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248
LIFE AS A FREEMAN XXII--LIBERTY
ATTAINED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261 XXIII--INTRODUCED
TO THE ABOLITIONISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
XXIV--TWENTY-ONE MONTHS IN GREAT
BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284 XXV--VARIOUS
INCIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304
APPENDIX RECEPTION
SPEECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318 LETTER TO HIS OLD
MASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330 THE NATURE OF
SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337 INHUMANITY OF
SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343 WHAT TO THE SLAVE
IS THE FOURTH OF JULY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349 THE INTERNAL
SLAVE TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 THE SLAVERY
PARTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358 THE ANTI-SLAVERY
MOVEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .363
MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM

EDITOR'S PREFACE
If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of ART,
the history of its misfortune might be written in two very simple
words--TOO LATE. The nature and character of slavery have been
subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic representation; and after
the brilliant achievements in that field, and while those achievements
are yet fresh in the memory of the million, he who would add another
to the legion, must possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or
apologize for something worse than rashness. The reader is, therefore,
assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not invited to a

work of ART, but to a work of FACTS--Facts, terrible and almost
incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless.
I am authorized to say that there is not a fictitious name nor place in the
whole volume; but that names and places are literally given, and that
every transaction therein described actually transpired.
Perhaps the best Preface to this volume is furnished in the following
letter of Mr. Douglass, written in answer to my urgent solicitation for
such a work:
ROCHESTER, N. Y. July 2, 1855.
DEAR FRIEND: I have long entertained, as you very well know, a
somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for the
public, which could, with any degree of plausibilty, make me liable to
the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its own sake.
Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control,
perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often <2>refused to narrate my
personal experience in public anti- slavery meetings, and in
sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose
views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. In my
letters and speeches, I have generally aimed to discuss the question of
Slavery in the light of fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious
and open to all; making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former
enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. I have
never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own
enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws
of human nature, every one of which is perpetually and flagrantly
violated by the slave system. I have also felt that it was best for those
having histories worth the writing--or supposed to be so--to commit
such work to hands other than their own. To write of one's self, in such
a manner as not to incur the imputation of weakness, vanity, and
egotism, is a work within the ability of but few; and I have little reason
to believe that I belong to that fortunate few.