Shortly before his death, abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was asked what course black youths should follow in the face of continuing racism in this country. He replied, "Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!" An eloquent crusader, orator, and journalist, Douglass left a legacy of moral conviction and determination that inspired the civil rights movement of the twentieth century.

A pictorial history of Douglass's life, Majestic in His Wrath uses paintings, prints, photographs, documents, cartoons, and other memorabilia to trace Douglass's progress from his youth as a slave to his lasting stature as one of this country's most honored African American leaders.

The book documents Douglass's early years, his escape to freedom in 1838 and emergence as an abolitionist firebrand, his post-Civil War record as a champion of African American rights, and his later career, which included an appointment as U.S. minister to Haiti.

The book's more than seventy illustrations include images of Douglass, prominent abolitionist contemporaries John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison, and fellow black reformers Sojourner Truth, Henry Highland Garnet, and Charles Remond, among others.

The book presents the legal papers pertaining to the purchase of Douglass's freedom, a note in which he pleads for help in spiriting three run-away slaves to Canada, and his letter to President Lincoln outlining a scheme to encourage slave desertions during the Civil War. Commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Douglass's death, Majestic in His Wrath is published with the National Portrait Gallery and the National Park Service.