Here is a silver lining. On February 1, 2017, President Donald Trump praised 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) at a Black History Month White House event as someone “who’s done an amazing job that is being recognized more and more.”
On August 9, 2018, I interviewed Kenneth B. Morris, the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Booker T. Washington. Morris is the President of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives(FDFI).
Morris explained to me how President Trump’s apparent gaff, actually did some good by generating publicity. The Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives is trying to print and distribute one million hardcover copies of a special Bicentennial Edition of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative. They are asking one million students across the country to read the book and, in 2018, the Bicentennial year, participate in meaningful service projects within their communities and internationally.
My interview with Kenneth B. Morris is part of a documentary I’m producing on the life of Sheldon Peck, an early settler of DuPage, County, Illinois, primitive American portrait artist, radical abolitionist and conductor on the underground railroad.
You may purchase a copy of the Special Bicentennial edition of Frederick Douglass’s Narrative from Syracuse Cultural Workers, for $19.95.
https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/book-narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave-narrative-bicentennial-edition
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