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Descendant of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington hopes to create ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½˜one million abolitionistsÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™

Kenneth B. Morris Jr., the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass, was presented with the University's Frederick Douglass Medal for his commitment to civic education that ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½œembodies values that the University of RochesterÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s faculty, students, and staff aspire to achieve.ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½� (ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ photo)

Kenneth B. Morris Jr., co-founder and president of Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI), spoke to a University gathering Thursday about his goal of creating one million abolitionists to help end human trafficking, a modern form of slavery.

Morris is a great-great-great-grandson of the 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass as well as a  great-great-grandson of the African-American educator Booker T. Washington, who founded Tuskegee University in 1881.

ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½œSlavery is in just about all of the products that we consume every day,ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½� said Morris. ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½œAre we complicit in allowing slavery to thrive and exist today because we want products so cheaply?ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½�

large audience in Hawkins Carlson Room
Kenneth B. Morris, center, prepares to speak in Rush Rhees Library. (ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ photo / Jim ver Steeg)

In honor of Douglass’s 200th birthday, Morris and his organization plan to distribute one million hardcover copies of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave to schoolchildren around the country.

Before his talk in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of Rush Rhees Library, University President Richard Feldman presented Morris with the Frederick Douglass Medal for his commitment to civic education that ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½œembodies values that the University of RochesterÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s faculty, students, and staff aspire to achieve.ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½�

Morris’s visit was sponsored by the UniversityÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies and the Humanities Project.