There was once a slave...
Reading edition
SHIRLEY GRAHAM
The heroic story of FREDERICK DOUGLASS
JULIAN MESSNER, Inc., NEW YORK
There Was Once a Slave, The Heroic Story of Frederick Douglass by Shirley Graham, received the sixty-five hundred dollar JULIAN MESSNER AWARD FOR THE BEST BOOK COMBATING INTOLERANCE IN AMERICA. The judges were: Carl Van Doren, Lewis Gannett, and Clifton Fadiman. Miss Graham’s work was selected from over six hundred manuscripts submitted in the contest. The original award was augmented by a grant from the Lionel Judah Tachna Memorial Foundation, established by Max Tachna in memory of his son who lost his life in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
PUBLISHED BY JULIAN MESSNER, INC. 8 WEST 40TH STREET, NEW YORK 18
COPYRIGHT, 1947 BY SHIRLEY GRAHAM
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY MONTAUK BOOK MANUFACTURING CO., INC.
To Peoples on the March
You cannot hem the hope of being free With parallels of latitude, with mountain range or sea; Put heavy padlocks on Truth’s lips, be callous as you will, From soul to soul, o’er all the world, leaps the electric thrill.
—James Russell Lowell