Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Frederick Douglass could not tell you how old he was. He opens his 1845 narrative with that admission — he had never seen any authentic record containing his age — and then explains it: on his account, most masters wanted their slaves ignorant of exactly this, and he was not allowed to ask. All he can offer is arithmetic: his master said in 1835 that he was about seventeen, so he reckons himself twenty-seven or twenty-eight. The Library of Congress dates his birth to 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland; the National Park Service puts it in February.

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave