Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass rose to become one of the nation\'s foremost intellectuals--a statesman, author, lecturer, and scholar who helped lead the fight against slavery and racial oppression.
As the nation pauses to remember Douglass on his bicentennial, Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man gives us an insightful glimpse into the mind of one of America\'s greatest thinkers.. ``The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own Constitution.`` Led by his dream of an America where all people would be free to make the most of themselves without hindrance, Douglass ultimately transformed the United States. ``There is no Negro problem,`` Douglass insisted.
Throughout it all Douglass was guided by his belief in the sanctity of the individual.
If they have ascended high, they have built their own ladder.`` In this fast-paced biography, lawyer and author Timothy Sandefur examines the life and ideas of the nation\'s foremost ``Self-Made man``--from his horrific experiences in slavery and his heroic escape to his eloquent demands for equal treatment by the federal government and his later career as statesman and intellectual. ``If they have traveled far, they have made the road on which they have travelled.
Douglass spoke in his most popular lecture, ``Self-Made Men,`` of people who rise through their own effort and devotion rather than circumstances of privilege.
Constitution, insisting that it was an essentially anti-slavery document and that its guarantees for individual rights belonged to all Americans, of whatever race.
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Unlike other leading abolitionists, however, Douglass embraced the U.
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass rose to become one of the nation\'s foremost intellectuals--a statesman, author, lecturer, and scholar who helped lead the fight against slavery and racial oppression
