Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington died well before Kenneth Morris Jr. was born, but they always felt present to Morris, thanks to the stories his older relatives would tell.
He remembers as a child sitting at the knee of his great-grandmother, Fannie Douglass, and listening intently to her tales of “the man with the great big white hair,” or hearing his great-aunt describe her relationship with her father.
“Hands that touched the great Frederick Douglass, and hands that touched the great Booker T. Washington, also touched mine,” Morris said Tuesday at a Black History Month event hosted by the White House.
