My Bondage and My Freedom Author:Fredrick Douglass A richer, deeper, and far more ambiguous work than the earlier Narrative, My Bondage and My Freedom reveals Douglass?s increased intellectual sophistication and maturity. In the decade that had elapsed since Douglass wrote Narrative, he had broken away from his antislavery mentors, successfully toured England, and established himself as an inspi... more »red speaker and writer. With the publication of My Bondage and My Freedom in 1855, Douglass became the country?s foremost spokesman for American blacks -? free and enslaved -? during the tense and politically charged years preceding the Civil War. One of the highlights of My Bondage and My Freedom is the appendix, which contains excerpts from several of Douglass?s speeches, including perhaps his most famous, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"« less