Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

An American Slave

From the Series First Avenue Classics™

• Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12    
• Reading Level: Grade 8

In 1817 or 1818, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery on a plantation in Maryland. As a young boy, he served in a household, but as he grew older, he faced increasingly brutal conditions and cruel owners. After many years, he escaped to freedom in New York City and began to publicly denounce slavery through writings and speeches. This unabridged version of Douglass’s powerful autobiography, first published in 1845, provides an honest, firsthand account of the horrors of slavery in the United States.

Twelve Years a Slave

From the Series First Avenue Classics™

• Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12    
• Reading Level: Grade 10

For more than thirty years, Solomon Northup lived in New York as a free man. But in 1841, while pursuing a job offer in Washington DC, Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery. After being brutally beaten for insisting on his right to live freely, Northup grew silent about his past. It was not until twelve years later that he shared his story with Samuel Bass, a white abolitionist, setting in motion the chain of events that would finally bring him home in 1853. Penned in his first year of renewed freedom, Northup’s memoir unveils the inconceivable cruelties—and rare moments of kindness—he experienced during his enslavement. The revelations in his narrative served as a powerful contribution to the fight against slavery. This unabridged version of Northup’s work is taken from an 1855 copyright edition.

The Souls of Black Folk

From the Series First Avenue Classics™

• Interest Level: Grade 7 – Grade 12    
• Reading Level: Grade 10

This collection of essays by American author W. E. B. Du Bois highlights the trials and tribulations facing African Americans in the early twentieth century, as they came to terms with the fact that an end to slavery did not mean an end to prejudice, oppression, and racially motivated violence. Du Bois examines what it is like to grow up in a world dominated by the “color-line” separating black Americans from white Americans, as well as what it’s like to have “double-consciousness” and always see one’s self through the eyes of others. Included is a chapter called “The Sorrow Songs”, which explores African American spirituals and their effect on black folk culture. This is an unabridged version of Du Bois’ seminal work on racism and cultural identity in America, first published in 1903.

The Prophet

From the Series First Avenue Classics™

• Interest Level: Grade 8 – Grade 12    
• Reading Level: Grade 7

Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is one of the world’s best-selling books of poetry. In twenty-six poetic essays, Gibran writes from the perspective of fictional prophet Almustafa, who has recently returned to his place of birth, Orphalese. The poems detail Almustafa’s philosophies on important subjects such as crime and punishment, death, and marriage, as well as everyday subjects such as clothing and eating and drinking. Other poetic essays in The Prophet include “Joy and Sorrow,” “Freedom,” and “Good and Evil.” This unabridged edition was first published in 1923.