P.S. Frederick Douglass and the Notes of a "Self-Made Man"

"I believe in individuality, but individuals are, to the mass, like waves to the ocean."

In one of his most popular speeches, “Self-Made Men,” Frederick Douglass explains that the only path to success is

WORK! WORK!! WORK!!! WORK!!!!

At the same time, he points out that no one ever works entirely alone—that we are all indebted to the waves of history and the fabric of society. He tells us,

Properly speaking, there are in the world no such men as self-made men. That term implies an individual independence of the past and present which can never exist.

We begin wherever we begin, and that is, of course, a matter of chance. But Douglass advises us to work wherever, whenever, and whoever we are because

We cannot have fruit without flowers, but we often have flowers without fruit. The promise of youth often breaks down in manhood, and real excellence often comes unheralded and from unexpected quarter.

The bottom line: Nothing of any value comes without labor.

The final time Douglass gave this speech was at the Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Library of Congress

Douglass’s rise from slavery to world-wide celebrity places him among the self-made men he discusses. His notes reveal that this is true both in the enormous amount of work he put into his writing and lectures as well as into the social relationships he cultivated.

In this postscript, I look at the note-taking tools that sustained Douglass as a “self-made man,” which include his appointment notes, his calendar, his financial accounting, as well as notes from his radiant social life.

These post-scripts offer paid subscribers a deeper dive into the note-takers I cover in Noted’s regular posts. You can read my full post on Douglass’s notes for free here. If you enjoy reading Noted, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get additional posts, and you’ll help keep this newsletter going!