Douglass Mind Blog
– Frederick Douglass
(Masthead of The North Star)
Today, our efforts and the efforts of many other modern abolitionists and antiracists are sprawled throughout the internet. The Douglass Mind Blog is meant to give voice to you for expanding ideas on antiracism and abolitionism. On this page, we will also keep you up-to-date with our initiatives, press releases, and general news about racism and human trafficking.
The time to act is now! Join Our Cause.
Douglass Mind Blog
The Virtual Monuments Project
HITRECORD and Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives collaborated on 10 pieces of art to celebrate Black Excellence! In collaboration with HitRecord, we have created 10 “Virtual Monuments” that celebrate Black Excellence, and recognize influential people, places, and...
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives Discussion with MHS Students – March 3, 2021
Pittsford Central School District’s, Mendon High School Event VIDEO: FDFI was honored to join students, teachers, and administrators from Mendon High School and Pittsford Central School District on a March 3, 2021 online event. We wanted to express our thanks to...
Nettie Washington Douglass’ Remarks at Saint Patrick’s Day Virtual Reception from Embassy of Ireland, USA
VIDEO: Thank you for joining us. On Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17th, the world becomes Irish for a day. Our traditions of music, song, poetry, dance, conversation, and community are celebrated – just about everywhere. This year we cannot gather in person, so we will...
FDFI Chair, Nettie Washington Douglass, joins Vice President Harris to Celebrate the Global Fellows | Dublin
Nettie Washington Douglass and Vice President Harris attend a virtual event alongside H.E. Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, Celebrating the Frederick Douglass Global Fellows | Dublin.
Empowering Young Black Voices to Effect Social Change
By Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. is the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Booker T. Washington. He continues his family’s legacy of anti-slavery and educational work as co-founder and president...
Press Release: Monroe County Students Help Design History
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tiffany Nicholas at (585) 286-9029 tnicholas@fdfi.org Monroe County Students Help Design History (December 2, 2020, Rochester, NY) Fuzzy pictures and mathematical equations can help scientists understand the oldest and most...
Rochester Youth are Invited to Create Portraits of Anna Murray Douglass
To build strong children and to end systems of exploitation and oppression. October 20, 2020 Dear Friend, Authors of the book, Picturing Frederick Douglass, called Douglass the “Most Photographed American of the Nineteenth Century.” Yet, there are only two known...
Press Release: Local Organization Invites Youth to Create Portraits of Anna Murray Douglass
(October 8, 2020, Rochester, NY) Authors of the book, Picturing Frederick Douglass (Stauffer, John et. al.; Liveright 2015) called Douglass the “Most Photographed Man of the Nineteenth Century.” Yet, there are only two known images of Anna Murray Douglass, Frederick’s wife of 44 years, mother of their five children, steward of his legacy and household, and co-conductor of their Rochester stop on the Underground Railroad. “My husband is battling with the minions of oppression,” Anna commented on her work, “why not I endure hardship that my race may be free?”
Press Release: The Legacy of Lynching is Alive in America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robert J. Benz at (585) 310-4559 rbenz@fdfi.org “The Legacy of Lynching is Alive in America” Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass Descendants Respond to Death of Daniel Prude (September 4, 2020, Rochester, NY) Michelle Duster and...
Irish Times – Irish visits by Lewis and Douglass
From left to right: Nettie Washington Douglass, Rep. John Lewis, Kristin Leary, and Christine Kinealy pose with a maquette of Frederick Douglass in Ireland Irish Times Fri, Jul 31, 2020, 00:37 Sir, – In August 1845, Frederick Douglass arrived in Europe just months...
The Voice of The Future
An Apparent Yet Dismissed Disease: Racism – by Sondos E., Age 16, Orland Park, IL
It is ironic that it required the unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 to bring awareness to the festering pandemic of discrimination and prejudice against the Black community. As Frederick Douglass said, “Racism is a disease.” One that has occasional flare-ups from the...
A Strong Immune Response to Oppression – by Arianna M., Age 18, New Salisbury, IN
We can’t breathe, as a nation, when the disease of racism is killing any one of us. Every time an individual dies the entire body is hurt, and, despite the moments when the weight of oppression seems to lighten, racism has always survived our attempts to expel it from...
Speak Up – by Madilyn L., Age 18, Rochester, NY
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness-these are the three specified “unalienable rights” that our founding fathers promised us all in the age of a new United States of America. While white Americans have the privilege of living out this reality, People of Color...
How to Cure the Disease of Racism – by Aaliyah W., Age 22, Lithonia, GA
Racism is a disease of the heart, and mainly affects an individual's mindset, which ultimately influences their actions and behavior. A conglomerate of people have been infected by the disease of racism, and it has bled into the systems they created and the...
Curing the Nation – by Sydney L., Age 14, Rochester, NY
"If an unarmed colored man is shot down and dies in his tracks, a jury, under the influence of this spirit, does not hesitate to find the murdered man the real criminal, and the murderer innocent." Frederick Douglass stated this in "The Color Line" in 1881. In 2014 in...
Breaking the Chains of Racism – by Lia H., Age 19, Plainfield, NJ
In light of recent events within America it has really allowed the American public to “wake up” to see what we as Black Americans are going through on a day to day basis. Also to allow them to notice how racism in America is a learned behavior/mindset that has...
The Need to Change Perceptions – by Asmathul N., Age 16, Kandy, Sri Lanka
(Photo Courtesy of Sean Gallup/Getty) You can't change people's perceptions, but you can change what they perceive, influencing and guiding them; that is our solution to save humanity. Today's world is a white world, with consideration for humanity decreasing down the...
Cause and Cures of Racial Oppression – by Anneliese C., Age 14, Miami, FL
(Photo Courtesy of Laurent Gillieron/EPA) The proper cure for racial oppression works just as a medicine for any other malady; it must be applied carefully and in set amounts. But first, I must announce that racial oppression is not the disease but the symptom of...
Remedies For Racial Oppression – by Genesis O., Age 12, Washington D.C.
If racial oppression is a kind of disease, what are some of your recommendations for remedies and how they can be applied? One example of a remedy for racial oppression is gathering the people who believe that racism is okay and the people who think that racism is not...
The Injustice of Algorithms
By Kairan Quazi The last few years have been really tough and overwhelming and frightening to just be a normal kid. It feels like everywhere we look, we can’t escape the angry faces and angry voices of hate. But racism is much more than people screaming at rallies or...
On July 4th, 2020, Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives hosted a live webcast to discuss ideas to remedy “the disease of racism” in our country. Please click the play button to learn more about Douglass’s famous speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” and hear from Douglass descendants, young orators, award-winning bloggers, a gospel singer, and young activists. We also hosted the world premiere of a song from the new Douglass musical, American Prophet. Check out the event. We know you will be inspired!
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Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives in the News
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives Discussion with MHS Students – March 3, 2021
Pittsford Central School District’s, Mendon High School Event VIDEO: FDFI was honored to join students, teachers, and administrators from Mendon High School and Pittsford Central School District on a March 3, 2021 online event. We wanted to express our thanks to...
Nettie Washington Douglass’ Remarks at Saint Patrick’s Day Virtual Reception from Embassy of Ireland, USA
VIDEO: Thank you for joining us. On Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17th, the world becomes Irish for a day. Our traditions of music, song, poetry, dance, conversation, and community are celebrated – just about everywhere. This year we cannot gather in person, so we will...
FDFI Chair, Nettie Washington Douglass, joins Vice President Harris to Celebrate the Global Fellows | Dublin
Nettie Washington Douglass and Vice President Harris attend a virtual event alongside H.E. Micheál Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland, Celebrating the Frederick Douglass Global Fellows | Dublin.
Anna Murray Douglass “Life in Portrait” Contest
Anna Murray Douglass “Life in Portrait” Contest Authors of the book, Picturing Frederick Douglass, called Douglass the “Most Photographed American of the Nineteenth Century.” Yet, there are only two known images of Anna Murray Douglass, Frederick’s wife, and partner...
Empowering Young Black Voices to Effect Social Change
By Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. is the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Booker T. Washington. He continues his family’s legacy of anti-slavery and educational work as co-founder and president...
Press Release: Monroe County Students Help Design History
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tiffany Nicholas at (585) 286-9029 tnicholas@fdfi.org Monroe County Students Help Design History (December 2, 2020, Rochester, NY) Fuzzy pictures and mathematical equations can help scientists understand the oldest and most...
Rochester Youth are Invited to Create Portraits of Anna Murray Douglass
To build strong children and to end systems of exploitation and oppression. October 20, 2020 Dear Friend, Authors of the book, Picturing Frederick Douglass, called Douglass the “Most Photographed American of the Nineteenth Century.” Yet, there are only two known...
Press Release: Local Organization Invites Youth to Create Portraits of Anna Murray Douglass
(October 8, 2020, Rochester, NY) Authors of the book, Picturing Frederick Douglass (Stauffer, John et. al.; Liveright 2015) called Douglass the “Most Photographed Man of the Nineteenth Century.” Yet, there are only two known images of Anna Murray Douglass, Frederick’s wife of 44 years, mother of their five children, steward of his legacy and household, and co-conductor of their Rochester stop on the Underground Railroad. “My husband is battling with the minions of oppression,” Anna commented on her work, “why not I endure hardship that my race may be free?”
Press Release: The Legacy of Lynching is Alive in America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robert J. Benz at (585) 310-4559 rbenz@fdfi.org “The Legacy of Lynching is Alive in America” Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass Descendants Respond to Death of Daniel Prude (September 4, 2020, Rochester, NY) Michelle Duster and...
Press Release: Frederick Douglass Family Expresses Gratitude For Rochester Airport Name Change
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robert J. Benz at (585) 310-4559 rbenz@fdfi.org Frederick Douglass Family Expresses Gratitude For Rochester Airport Name Change (August 11, 2020, Rochester, NY) Direct descendants of Frederick Douglass responded tonight to reports...
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