Frederick Douglas's Escape to Freedom

Although Douglas does not reveal in great detail his escape to freedom, he describes poignantly the trying times he encountered in the free state of New York upon his arrival. The following excerpt is from "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas."

"I have been frequently asked how I felt when I found myself in a free State. I have never been able to answer the question with any satisfaction to myself. It was a moment of the highest excitement I ever experienced…. In writing to a dear friend, immediately after my arrival in New York, I said I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions. This state of mind, however, very soon subsided; and I was again seized with a feeling of loneliness. I was yet liable to be taken back, and subjected to all the tortures of slavery. But the loneliness overcame me. There I was in the midst of thousands, and yet a perfect stranger; without home and without friends, in the midst of thousands of my own brethren-children of a common Father, and yet I dared not to unfold to any of them my sad condition…"

Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. New York: Signet, 1968.