The MCT edition of The Narrative of Frederick Douglass is reproduced in its entirety and includes Michael’s “language illustrations”—close-ups of poetic techniques, four-level analyses of interesting grammar, and comments about writing strategies. Challenging vocabulary is defined at the bottom of each page.

The full title of this book—one of the most significant works of American letters—is The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.  It is the remarkable and harrowing story of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), who was born into slavery and poverty in Maryland but who managed to escape with the help of the Underground Railroad and later became a powerful voice for freedom and equality. At the time he wrote his narrative, it was still too dangerous to name those who had helped him escape.

Much of the power of Douglass’s writing comes from his flat, direct, declarative statements of terrible truths. His early life was marked by cruelty and degradation yet also by a determination to learn to read, to be educated, and to escape to freedom.