This is the story of Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery. He was hardly allowed to have any contact with his mother, Harriet Bailey. She died when he was about ten years old. He lived with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey. After a first attempt to escape failed, he borrowed a sailor's letter of protection in 1838. With this he managed to escape to freedom; he went to New York. Both in the USA and in the wider English-speaking world, as well as on the European mainland, enormous importance was and is attached to the work. Gröls Classics - English Edition