In My Bondage and My Freedom, Douglass reports gaining fame because of his abolitionist lectures and the publication of the Narrative. Accordingly, as his reputation grew, Douglass fled to England to prevent the possibility of arrest and a return to slavery. He tells the reader that onboard ship to England, he was not allowed to occupy a first class cabin because of his race. Nevertheless, because of his fame, many of the passengers came to see him in the steerage compartment, and they invited him to present his lectures to all the passengers of the ship. In this book, Douglass doesn't dwell much on the twenty-one months he spent in Great Britain, where he met many supporters of abolitionism. He does, however, voice his opinion about segregation on public transportation. Evidently, the British considered the American practice of segregation on public trains and ships outrageous. Editorials in The London Times and other papers condemned this practice, creating so much publicity that the Cunard line, which Douglass took to and from England, ended racial segregation on its steamships.
In the final chapter of My Bondage and My Freedom, Douglass tells stories about his endeavors to end segregation on trains in New England. On one occasion, he refused to give up his seat and move to the "Jim Crow car" (italics his). He fought physically with many conductors and passengers, disrupting many train schedules before the state of Massachusetts was finally compelled to forbid racial segregation on trains. Douglass ends his book by promising to use his voice and pen to "promote the moral, social, religious, and intellectual elevation of the free colored people . . . [and] advocate the great and primary work of the universal and unconditional emancipation of my entire race."
