7The powerful story of slavery that has become a classic of American autobiography, now in an authoritative edition. This dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave was first published in 1845, when its young author had just achieved his freedom. Douglass' eloquence gives a clear indication of the powerful principles that led him to become the first great African-American leader in the United States. *** Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, and after his escape in 1838 repeatedly risked his own freedom as an antislavery speaker, writer and publisher.