The Heroic Slave: A Thrilling Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty is a short piece of fiction written by famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. When the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society asked Douglass for a short story to go in their collection, Autographs for Freedom, Douglass responded in turn with The Heroic Slave. The novella, published in 1852 by John P. Jewett and Company, was Douglass' first and only published work of fiction (though he did publish several autobiographical narratives).The Heroic Slave is the fictionalized story of Madison Washington, who was a real man famous for his rebellion on board the Creole.