Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Published

The Boston Anti-Slavery Office published Douglass's first autobiography. It sold 4,500 copies in the first four months, 11,000 in three years, and was translated into French and Dutch. The Narrative's precise detail, naming his masters, describing Baltimore geography, proved he was not an invention of white abolitionists. It permanently changed how Americans understood the interior life of enslaved people.