Generals Discourse Hosts Webinar Featuring Kenneth B. Morris Morris is the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Booker T. Washington.

By Erica Turman
May 11, 2021

Generals Discourse, a student organization at Washington and Lee University that is dedicated to the focus of problems in the Middle East, is hosting a webinar with Kenneth B. Morris Jr., a direct descendant of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, on May 12 at 5:30 p.m.

Morris will speak about his heritage, how his history has shaped his life and his relationship with history, and how he has made his legacy uniquely his own.

The event is free and open to the public to view online here.

“We hope to inspire W&L students, faculty, staff, parents and community to meditate on their heritage, think about how to face it, think about their relationship with it, and how to be proud of it,” said Hayley Huber ’23, the event organizer. “My goal with having Mr. Morris speak is to motivate people to take a step back and confront their past, take a step forward and embrace it, and think about how their heritage has influenced or will influence their life.”

Morris is the great-great-great-grandson of Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Washington. He maintains his family’s mission of anti-slavery and pedagogical work as co-founder and president of the nonprofit Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI). The organization uses history as a weapon against modern-day slavery and is considered a 21st century abolitionist movement.

“Observing one’s history with more objectivity and looking at it as something that’s a part of them allows one to build a healthy relationship with their heritage and a more open-minded approach to other people’s pasts,” Huber said. “We can’t change our history, so we should face it, acknowledge it and live with the understanding that we decide what impact our heritage has on our lives.”