This richly illustrated edition of this classic American autobiography sheds new light on Douglass’s famous text for a new generation of readers.

Famous orator and former slave Frederick Douglass published his third and last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, in 1881. No longer in danger as an escaped slave, it goes into greater detail and encompasses Douglass’s entire life, from his early years living with his grandmother in Maryland to the events during and after the Civil War, including his meetings with presidents and dignitaries and his deep involvement with the burgeoning suffragist movement. His account reveals what life was like as a slave and how Douglass went on to escape from slavery and then dedicate his life to advocating equality for all people.

Including an introduction by prominent historian and PBS Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr., Douglass’s words are augmented by:

• Historic photographs, memorabilia, and maps
• Full-color photography of the key Douglass-specific sites and landmarks as they stand today
• Large sidebars written by soldiers, statesmen, and abolitionists from the antebellum period
• Pieces by well-known historians and prominent African-Americans
• New commentary by current historians and writers

Gain an even deeper understanding of one of the most important figures in American history with this illustrated edition of his final autobiography.

Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He is one of the most famous African Americans of all time and his memoirs continue to be studied by historians and enthusiasts today, nearly 150 years after the Civil War.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He hearned his BA in English language and literature, summa cum laude, from Yale University and his MA and PhD in English literature from Clare Collage at the University of Cambridge. An Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Gates has authored or co-authored nineteen books and created fourteen documentary films. Having written for such leading publications as the New Yorker, the New York Times, and Time, he now serves as chairman of theRoot.com, a daily online magazine he co-founded in 2008.