The Civil War began 150 years ago today, tearing the nation apart, killing over half a million people, and making household names of men and women on both the union and confederate sides of the conflict. Among the most famous of those names: Frederick Douglass. Already a celebrated writer, orator, and abolitionist before the war, he became even more famous during the war years. In addition to advising President Lincoln, he was the keynote speaker at the unveiling of the Emancipation Proclamation and a recruiter for one of the first black Union regiments – the 54th Massachusetts. Two of his sons were among the first he recruited.
Kenneth Morris is the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass as well as the great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington. He’s also the founder and president of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation.