society to
the highest, mankind pay him the tribute of their admiration; when he
accomplishes this elevation by native energy, guided by prudence and
wisdom, their admiration is increased; but when his course, onward and
upward, excellent in itself, furthermore proves a possible, what had
hitherto been regarded as an impossible, reform, then he becomes a
burning and a shining light, on which the aged may look with gladness,
the young with hope, and the down-trodden, as a representative of
what they may themselves become. To such a man, dear reader, it is my
privilege to introduce you.

The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which follow,
is not merely an example of self-elevation under the most adverse
circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of the highest aims
of the American anti-slavery movement. The real object of that movement
is not only to disenthrall, it is, also, to bestow upon the Negro the
exercise of all those rights, from the possession of which he has been
so long debarred.

But this full recognition of the colored man to the right, and the
entire admission of the same to the full privileges, political,
religious and social, of manhood, requires powerful effort on the part
of the enthralled, as well as on the part of those who would disenthrall
them. The people at large must feel the conviction, as well as admit the
abstract logic, of human equality;{5} the Negro, for the first time in
the world's history, brought in full contact with high civilization,
must prove his title first to all that is demanded for him; in the teeth
of unequal chances, he must prove himself equal to the mass of those who
oppress him--therefore, absolutely superior to his apparent fate, and
to their relative ability. And it is most cheering to the friends of
freedom, today, that evidence of this equality is rapidly accumulating,
not from the ranks of the half-freed colored people of the free states,
but from the very depths of slavery itself; the indestructible equality
of man to man is demonstrated by the ease with which black men, scarce
one remove from barbarism--if slavery can be honored with such a
distinction--vault into the high places of the most advanced and
painfully acquired civilization. Ward and Garnett, Wells Brown and
Pennington, Loguen and Douglass, are banners on the outer wall, under
which abolition is fighting its most successful battles, because
they are living exemplars of the prac