# Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

**Author:** Frederick Douglass
**Lexile:** 1080L
**Grade range:** Grades 8–12
**Age range:** 13–18
**First published:** 1845
**Page count:** 128
**Genre:** Slave Narrative / Autobiography
**ISBN-13:** `9780486284996`
**ISBN-10:** `0486284999`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Frederick Douglass's firsthand account of his enslavement, his self-taught literacy, and his escape to freedom in the North. The narrative is among the most-assigned primary-source texts in Common Core ELA Appendix B, APUSH, AP Language, and state American Literature frameworks.

## Themes

- slavery
- literacy as freedom
- abolition
- identity
- resistance

## Content notes

- graphic violence
- slavery depictions
- racial slurs (historical)

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 13+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Language & Composition

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: AP Lang rhetorical-analysis representative text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-language-and-composition)

### AP United States History (APUSH)

- **required** · 11th grade — [source: APUSH primary source — Period 5 (1844-1877)](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-history)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **required** · 11th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR nonfiction exemplar](https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/appendix-b-text-exemplars-and-sample-performance-tasks.pdf)

### IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: Frederick Douglass is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: Frederick Douglass is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)

### Summer reading lists

- **recommended** · 11th grade · Massachusetts — [source: Middleborough High School (MA) — Summer Reading 2025, choose one per incoming grade](https://www.midlib.org/sites/midlib.org/files/images/MHS%20Summer%20Reading%202025.pdf)

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