Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. My Bondage and My Freedom is an autobiographical slave narrative written by Frederick Douglass and published in

Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities supported the electronic publication of this title. Text transcribed by Apex Data Services, Inc. Part I. Part II. New York: 25 Park Row.

Debt bondage has deep roots in Indian history, dating back to the period when India was under colonial rule. The rise of Dalit activism, government legislation starting as early as , as well as ongoing work by NGOs and government offices to enforce labour laws and rehabilitate those in debt, appears to have contributed to the reduction of bonded labour in India. Although there were far more cases of involuntary slavery in eighteenth and nineteenth century India, the colonial history of India set a precedent for debt bondage. In , the colonial government passed the Government of India Act whose purpose was to develop the Indian economy. In , Indira Gandhi and the Indian government passed the Bonded Labor System Act of which released bonded laborers and stated that the practice of debt bondage in India was no longer allowed.