Self-Made Men? In 1895, Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and abolitionist leader, gave a phenomenal speech titled "Self-Made Men." It it, Douglass shares the secret behind successful men and women: I am certain that there is nothing good, great or desirable which man can possess in this world, that does not come by some kind of labor of physical or mental, moral or spiritual. A man, at times, gets something for nothing, but it will, in his hands, amount to nothing. What is true in the world of matter, is equally true in the world of the mind. Without culture there can be no growth; without exertion, no acquisition; without friction, no polish; without labor, no knowledge; without action, no progress and without conflict, no victory. A man that lies down a fool at night, hoping that he will waken wise in the morning, will rise up in the morning as he laid down in the evening. … From these remarks it will be evident that, allowing only ordinary ability and op