Frederick Douglass: In five speeches

On this day in 1869, Frederick Douglass stood at the corner of Neil and Main streets in downtown Champaign to speak on “self-made men.” We revisit the importance of this moment in our local history as we continue our #BlackHistoryIsAmericanHistory project this month. “Self-made men” was a topic he visited frequently. Douglass himself was a pivotal role model for the very concept he was promoting, having taught himself (largely in secret) to read and write while enslaved as a child. He would ulti