literature; for I can truly say, that I have been educated in the
school of adversity, whips, and chains. Experience and observation
have been my principal teachers, with the exception of three weeks
schooling which I have had the good fortune to receive since my escape
from the "grave yard of the mind," or the dark prison of human
bondage. And nothing but untiring perseverance has enabled me to
prepare this volume for the public eye; and I trust by the aid of
Divine Providence to be able to make it intelligible and instructive.
I thank God for the blessings of Liberty--the contrast is truly great
between freedom and slavery. To be changed from a chattel to a human
being, is no light matter, though the process with myself practically
was very simple. And if I could reach the ears of every slave to-day,
throughout the whole continent of America, I would teach the same
lesson, I would sound it in the ears of every hereditary bondman,
"break your chains and fly for freedom!"

It may be asked why I have written this work, when there has been so
much already written and published of the same character from other
fugitives? And, why publish it after having told it publicly all
through New England and the Western States to multiplied thousands?

My answer is, that in no place have I given orally the detail of my
narrative; and some of the most interesting events of my life have
never reached the public ear. Moreover, it was at the request of many
friends of down-trodden humanity, that I have undertaken to write the
following sketch, that light and truth might be spread on the sin and
evils of slavery as far as possible. I also wanted to leave my humble
testimony on record against this man-destroying system, to be read by
succeeding generations when my body shall lie mouldering in the dust.