Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself | The Dilemma of Frederick Douglass: The Slave Narrative as Literary Institution
In the following essay, Sekora examines the history of the slave narrative and Douglass' efforts to transcend its trappings.
In the struggles of Frederick Douglass lies the intellectual history of nineteenth-century America. Douglass directly influenced much of that history and touched virtually every issue of consequence in black-white relations. Once he mounted an anti-slavery platform in the summer of 1841, neither abolition nor Afro-American writing were ever the same again. He was so prescient, his successes so many, the strength of his writing and speaking so great, we are inclined to pass quickly over many of his conflicts, confident that history has upheld the positions he took. In the best-known...
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