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Frederick Douglass

Abolitionist, orator, newspaper editor and U.S. diplomat; U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia 1877–1881; U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti 1889–1891

United States · 1818–1895

Born into slavery in Maryland and escaped in 1838. Published three autobiographies and edited the North Star and other papers. Held federal appointments under several administrations, including U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia and Minister Resident to Haiti.

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What is something everyone in your world agrees about that you think is wrong?

I do not think much of the accident or good luck theory of self-made men. It is worth but little attention and has no practical value. An apple carelessly flung into a crowd may hit one person, or it may hit another, or it may hit nobody. The probabilities are precisely the same in this accident theory of self-made men. It divorces a man from his own achievements, contemplates him as a being of chance and leaves him without will, motive, ambition and aspiration. Yet the accident theory is among the most popular theories of individual success.

Recorded Lecture, delivered repeatedly 1859–1893, Teaching American History, reproducing Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress Manuscript Division source

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