Reading Into The Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass is a black historical figure who has long held my curiosity. Yet, I knew so little about him. So I downloaded a book about his life on my Kindle. Reading it was a huge eye-opener.

Born into slavery in 1818, Douglass ascended to one of the foremost intellectuals in the U.S. — a statesman, author, intellectual, and thought-leader who helped fuel the fight for racial justice throughout our land.

As opposed to other prominent abolitionists, Douglass has a huge champion of the U.S. Constitution. He insisted that it was essentially an anti-slavery document that provided guarantees for individual rights for all Americans, irrespective of race.

The book Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man by Timothy Sandefur provides a deep look at the inner mindset of America’s most cherished thinkers. It chronicles Douglass’ passionate efforts to spotlight those who rise up through their own efforts and devotion than through outer circumstance. By connecting the dots of history, political theory, and politics, this biography aligns Douglass’s views with his own personal experiences.

In an excerpt from the book, author Timothy Sandefur had this to say:

“A curious feature of existing books about Douglass is that they often focus more on his heroic personal story than on the ideas that formed the basis of all his work. In one sense, that’s understandable: few American biographies are as inspiring as his. But Douglass was also a scholar and writer of immense skill and a political leader whose actions were consistently guided by his commitment to the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence: all people are born free and equal, with inherent rights, which nobody may justly violate. Each person owns himself (or herself; Douglass was an outspoken feminist), and nobody is entitled to dictate our choices.”

According to Sandefur, Douglass’ life is exquisitely captured in a quote from a lecture entitled “Self-Made Men,” which he delivered 50 times over the latter half of his life.

“Personal independence is a virtue,” Douglass would exhort, “but there can be no independence without a large share of self-dependence, and this virtue cannot be bestowed. It must be developed from within.”

Vestiges of this self-made theme are tied to many leaders in our nation’s history. In fact, it was one of the founding fathers of the U.S., Benjamin Franklin who is often credited with creating this concept.

Today, the self-made man concept has been brought into question by many blacks who feel victimized by deeply entrenched systems of racism and oppression. This cynicism fosters the belief that a person cannot truly become whatever he or she chooses by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Douglass felt like such thinking was bunk, a view that was informed by his own rise from the dark recesses of slavery to become an orator, author, newspaper publisher, and famous abolitionist. He fervently believed that what was possible for him was possible for anyone who had a willingness and commitment to working hard.

An example cited in the book of Douglass overcoming enormous odds and adversity was a fight he had with his slave owner.

The experience “was a resurrection from the dark and pestiferous tomb of slavery, to the heaven of comparative freedom. I was no longer a servile coward. . . . I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, though I still remained a slave in form.”

This experience became a foundational piece of Douglass’s story illustrating how he overcame near-impossible odds to succeed. Says Sandefur:

“Those who desired freedom had to prove themselves worthy of it by struggle and self-determination. To be fully human meant to command oneself and to hazard life for the reward of living.”

Douglass’s political views are “classically liberal,” what we refer to today as a libertarian. In other words, he strikes a nice balance between his conservative and liberal views. This view, which I personally hold, is staunchly committed to economic freedom and individual rights relative to private property. In other words, a person’s right to freedom ensues from their natural, inalienable ownership of their body, mind, and material property.

Douglass is to be commended for encouraging each of us to stretch beyond false limitations, truly becoming the men and women we were meant to be.