Product Description

Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Commentary by Jean Fagan Yellin and Margaret Fuller

This Modern Library edition combines two of the most important African American slave narrativescrucial works that each illuminate and inform the other.

Frederick Douglasss first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and Douglasss own triumph over it.

Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1861 she published now recognized as the most comprehensive antebellum slave narrative written by a woman. Jacobss account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves, and it remains essential reading.

Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide