Frederick Douglass Documents Systematic Violence of Slavery

Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative documented with precise detail the violence endemic to slavery. He described overseer Austin Gore shooting an enslaved man named Demby for refusing to come out of the water after a whipping, facing no legal consequences. He documented how Edward Covey, a hired slave-breaker, beat him weekly until Douglass fought back. Douglass's Narrative became one of the most widely read abolitionist texts in the world, selling 11,000 copies in its first three years.