Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
First edition cover
Author	David W. Blight
Audio read by	Prentice Onayemi^[1]
Cover artist	Darren Haggar (design)^[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Frederick Douglass
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	October 16, 2018^[3]
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	912^[3]
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for History (2019) Bancroft Prize (2019)
ISBN	978-1-4165-9031-6 (hardcover)
OCLC	1022622448
Dewey Decimal	973.8092 B
LC Class	E449.D75 B557 2018

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom is a 2018 biography of African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, written by historian David W. Blight. It was published in 2018 by Simon & Schuster and won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for History.^[4]^[5]

Film adaptation

In April 2019, it was reported that a feature film adaptation of the book was being produced by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in partnership with Netflix.^[6]^[7] In 2023 it was reported that Regina King will direct the film, with a script by Kemp Powers.^[8]

In 2022, Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches, a documentary film based on the book, was released by HBO on various streaming platforms.^[9]

Awards and honors

2019 Bancroft Prize, winner^[10]
2019 Francis Parkman Prize, winner^[11]
2019 Lincoln Prize, winner^[12]
2019 Mark Lynton History Prize, shortlist^[13]
2019 Plutarch Award, winner^[14]
2019 Pulitzer Prize for History, winner
2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, winner^[15]

References

^ Frederick Douglass Audiobook by David W. Blight, Prentice Onayemi. 16 October 2018. ISBN 978-1-5082-6566-5. Retrieved December 18, 2019. ((cite book)): |website= ignored (help)
^ Temple, Emily (February 21, 2019). "If They Gave Oscars to Books, Our 2018 Nominees". Literary Hub. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. 16 October 2018. ISBN 978-1-4165-9031-6. Retrieved December 18, 2019. ((cite book)): |website= ignored (help)
^ Gardner, John S. (October 27, 2018). "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom review: a monumental biography". The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
^ "The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winner in History". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
^ Coyle, Jake (April 30, 2019). "Obamas unveil slate of series, documentaries for Netflix". Associated Press. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ Koblin, John (April 30, 2019). "The Obamas and Netflix Just Revealed the Shows and Films They're Working On". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ Sperling, Nicole (2023-12-06). "Obamas' Vision for Hollywood Company: 'This Isn't Like Masterpiece Theatre'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
^ Cordero, Rosy (2022-02-01). "Frederick Douglass Documentary 'In Five Speeches' Gets Premiere At HBO". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
^ Schuessler, Jennifer (March 7, 2019). "Bancroft Prize for History Is Awarded to 2 Scholars". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ "David W. Blight Wins the Francis Parkman Prize". Society of American Historians. Columbia University. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ Connolly, Bess (February 19, 2019). "David Blight honored with Lincoln Prize for his book on Frederick Douglass". YaleNews. Yale University. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ "Columbia Journalism School Announces the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards Shortlist". Columbia Journalism School. February 26, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ "David W. Blight Wins 2019 Plutarch Award". Biographers International Organization. June 7, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
^ "Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced". Los Angeles Times. April 12, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.

v t e Pulitzer Prize for History
1917–1919	With Americans of Past and Present Days by Jean Jules Jusserand (1917) A History of the Civil War, 1861–1865 by James Ford Rhodes (1918)
1920–1939	The War with Mexico by Justin H. Smith (1920) The Victory at Sea by William Sims and Burton J. Hendrick (1921) The Founding of New England by James Truslow Adams (1922) The Supreme Court in United States History by Charles Warren (1923) The American Revolution by Charles Howard McIlwain (1924) History of the American Frontier by Frederic L. Paxson (1925) A History of the United States by Edward Channing (1926) Pinckney's Treaty by Samuel Flagg Bemis (1927) Main Currents in American Thought by Vernon Louis Parrington (1928) The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–1865 by Fred Albert Shannon (1929) The War of Independence by Claude H. Van Tyne (1930) The Coming of the War, 1914 by Bernadotte E. Schmitt (1931) My Experiences in the World War by John J. Pershing (1932) The Significance of Sections in American History by Frederick J. Turner (1933) The People's Choice by Herbert Agar (1934) The Colonial Period of American History by Charles McLean Andrews (1935) A Constitutional History of the United States by Andrew C. McLaughlin (1936) The Flowering of New England, 1815–1865 by Van Wyck Brooks (1937) The Road to Reunion, 1865–1900 by Paul Herman Buck (1938) A History of American Magazines by Frank Luther Mott (1939)
1940–1959	Abraham Lincoln: The War Years by Carl Sandburg (1940) The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860 by Marcus Lee Hansen (1941) Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 by Margaret Leech (1942) Paul Revere and the World He Lived In by Esther Forbes (1943) The Growth of American Thought by Merle Curti (1944) Unfinished Business by Stephen Bonsal (1945) The Age of Jackson by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1946) Scientists Against Time by James Phinney Baxter III (1947) Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto (1948) The Disruption of American Democracy by Roy Franklin Nichols (1949) Art and Life in America by Oliver W. Larkin (1950) The Old Northwest by R. Carlyle Buley (1951) The Uprooted by Oscar Handlin (1952) The Era of Good Feelings by George Dangerfield (1953) A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton (1954) Great River by Paul Horgan (1955) The Age of Reform by Richard Hofstadter (1956) Russia Leaves the War by George F. Kennan (1957) Banks and Politics in America by Bray Hammond (1958) The Republican Era, 1869–1901 by Leonard D. White and Jean Schneider (1959)
1960–1979	In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech (1960) Between War and Peace by Herbert Feis (1961) The Triumphant Empire by Lawrence H. Gipson (1962) Washington: Village and Capital, 1800–1878 by Constance McLaughlin Green (1963) Puritan Village by Sumner Chilton Powell (1964) The Greenback Era by Irwin Unger (1965) The Life of the Mind in America by Perry Miller (1966) Exploration and Empire by William H. Goetzmann (1967) The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn (1968) Origins of the Fifth Amendment by Leonard Levy (1969) Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson (1970) Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom by James MacGregor Burns (1971) Neither Black nor White by Carl N. Degler (1972) People of Paradox by Michael Kammen (1973) The Americans by Daniel J. Boorstin (1974) Jefferson and His Time by Dumas Malone (1975) Lamy of Santa Fe by Paul Horgan (1976) The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 by David M. Potter (completed and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher; 1977) The Visible Hand by Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1978) The Dred Scott Case by Don E. Fehrenbacher (1979)
1980–1999	Been in the Storm So Long by Leon Litwack (1980) American Education by Lawrence A. Cremin (1981) Mary Chesnut's Civil War by C. Vann Woodward (1982) The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 by Rhys Isaac (1983) Prophets of Regulation by Thomas K. McCraw (1985) ...The Heavens and the Earth by Walter A. McDougall (1986) Voyagers to the West by Bernard Bailyn (1987) The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876 by Robert V. Bruce (1988) Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson (1989) Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch (1989) In Our Image by Stanley Karnow (1990) A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (1991) The Fate of Liberty by Mark E. Neely Jr. (1992) The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood (1993) No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin (1995) William Cooper's Town by Alan Taylor (1996) Original Meanings by Jack N. Rakove (1997) Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson (1998) Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (1999)
2000–2021	Freedom from Fear by David M. Kennedy (2000) Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis (2001) The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand (2002) An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson (2003) A Nation Under Our Feet by Steven Hahn (2004) Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer (2005) Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky (2006) The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (2007) What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe (2008) The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed (2009) Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (2010) The Fiery Trial by Eric Foner (2011) Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable (2012) Embers of War by Fredrik Logevall (2013) The Internal Enemy by Alan Taylor (2014) Encounters at the Heart of the World by Elizabeth A. Fenn (2015) Custer's Trials by T. J. Stiles (2016) Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson (2017) The Gulf by Jack E. Davis (2018) Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight (2019) Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel (2020) Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain (2021) Covered with Night by Nicole Eustace / Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer (2022) Freedom's Dominion by Jefferson Cowie (2023)