The Importance of Douglass' Opposition to Slavery

In 1845, Frederick Douglass published the first of three autobiographies. He wrote about his years as a slave to debunk critics' claims that he was too eloquent to have ever really been a slave. His opposition to slavery was not about his own enslavement. But by writing about his own experience he was giving potential abolitionists something many had lacked and that was a window into the institution of slavery. This was incredibly important to the success of the movement for abolition.