| | Chronology | [11] |
| I. | Frederick Douglass, the Slave | [15] |
| II. | Back to Plantation-Life | [33] |
| III. | Escape from Slavery; Learning the Ways of Freedom | [54] |
| IV. | Beginning of His Public Career | [69] |
| V. | Slavery and Anti-Slavery | [83] |
| VI. | Seeks Refuge in England | [99] |
| VII. | Home Again as a Freeman—New Problems and New Triumphs | [116] |
| VIII. | Free Colored People and Colonization | [139] |
| IX. | The Underground Railway and the Fugitive Slave Law | [157] |
| X. | Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown | [174] |
| XI. | Forebodings of the Crisis | [195] |
| XII. | Douglass’s Services in the Civil War | [217] |
| XIII. | Early Problems of Freedom | [245] |
| XIV. | Sharing the Responsibilities and Honors of Freedom | [273] |
| XV. | Further Evidences of Popular Esteem, with Glimpses Into the Past | [302] |
| XVI. | Final Honors to the Living and Tributes to the Dead | [334] |
| | Bibliography | [353] |
| | Index | [355] |