Frederick Douglass was born a slave, and it seemed likely that he would live and die a slave since he was uncertain of his date of birth or the identity of his father. But young Douglass promised himself a different future - he would teach himself to read and write, and one day he would be free from slavery. When he was sent to work as a field hand on a plantation in St. Michael's in 1832, his life was so dispiriting and exhausting that he nearly forgot his dreams of freedom. His journey out of bondage was mental, as well as physical, but he did escape from slavery to become one of the most passionate and persuasive speakers of the abolitionist movement and a strong proponent for women's rights. His autobiography, compelling in its honest and forceful eloquence, is performed by Charles Turner.