What does Frederick Douglass understand a man to be?

In
discussings concept of humanity, or what he considers a man to be, one can pretty much begin
with a quick reference to French philosopher Ren© Descartess oft-quoted dictum cogito, ergo
sum, or I think, therefore I am. For Douglass, the essence of the discussion was encapsulated
in the fundamental distinction between humans and animalsin effect, that the former can be
defined by the pursuit of knowledge. Perhaps nowhere was this adage better articulated than in
an address Douglass gave in 1872 titled Self-Made Men. Recognizing at the outset of his
remarks the propensity for individuals to interpret that phraseself-made menas indicative of
one who has propelled himself upward socially, professionally, and economically entirely of his
own accord, Douglass immediately rejected any such notion without going to another extreme by
suggesting that personal initiative and skill played no role at all in ones success.
Rather,...

href="http://monadnock.net/douglass/self-made-men.html">http://monadnock.net/douglass/self-made-men.html
href="https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/you-are-man-so-am-i">https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/you-ar...
href="https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2018/02/frederick-douglasss-vision-manhood/">https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2018/02/frederick-do...