The short story appeared in the collection Autographs for Freedom (1852).

The narrative was inspired by Madison Washington, a slave on the Creole who led a rebellion on the ship in November 1841, and had it sail to Nassau in the Bahamas instead of New Orleans. This new critical edition, ideal for classroom use, includes the full text of Douglass's fictional recounting of the most successful slave revolt in American history, as well as an interpretive introduction excerpts from Douglass's correspondence, speeches, and editorials short selections by other writers on the Creole rebellion and recent criticism on the novella. 'The Heroic Slave' is the only work of fiction by the eminent abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It is inspired by the true story of Madison Washington, who, along with eighteen others, took control of the slave ship Creole in November 1841 and sailed it to Nassau in the British colony of the Bahamas, where they could live free. If you don't know the stories of Walker, Garnet, and the real Douglass, you do not know how abolition came to be.Frederick Douglass's only work of fiction-an imaginative retelling of the most successful slave revolt in American history-accompanied by an interpretive introduction, notes, and a selection of related writings by Douglass and others First published nearly a decade prior to the Civil War, The Heroic Slave is the only fictional work by abolitionist, orator, author, and social reformer Frederick Douglass, himself a former slave. In this book, you will find these works, and the connections between their stories. As he reveals in his only work of fiction, The Heroic Slave, Douglass sympathized with the idea of militant resistance to slavery, a position he spoke more vocally of after Garnet's republication of Walker's Appeal. But this was not the real Frederick Douglass. In the public, Garnet was often seen at odds with Frederick Douglass, widely known as a 'conservative' Black abolitionist, especially in modern accounts. In 1848, it was republished with a lengthy introduction by militant abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet, a piece of writing so strong it stands on its own. In effect, his Appeal set off hundreds of slave rebellions across the country, including playing a role in Nat Turner's famous revolt. David Walker's Appeal, originally published in 1829, was a clarion call to all those enslaved and opposed to slavery, to resist by force and demand liberation at all costs.

In this classic collection, you will find three revolutionary works by Black abolitionists. Frederick Douglass based this story on the real-life heroism of Madison Washington, who led the largest successful slave revolt in U.S.

The heroic slave