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.