David F. Dorr

David F. Dorr was a formerly enslaved American writer whose book A Colored Man Round the World stands out as an unusual nineteenth-century travel narrative. In the 1850s, he traveled internationally with Louisiana slaveholder Cornelius Fellowes, who had promised him freedom after the journey.

That promise was not kept. After returning to the United States, Dorr escaped to Ohio, where he wrote and published his account, transforming his experiences into a sharp, observant memoir.

His work was largely overlooked for many years before being rediscovered by modern readers and scholars. Today, Dorr is remembered for preserving a rare perspective on slavery, travel, and Black life in the antebellum era.