(Orange, CA) - On the heels of Black History Month, Santiago Canyon College welcomes Ken Morris, Jr., the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington to campus on Monday, March 4.
Morris, the co-founder and president of Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, which advocates abolition of modern-day slavery through education, will discuss modern day slavery and its connection to our nation’s history. Morris will also implore attendees to answer his call to action to combat human trafficking through education and servant leadership.
A resident of Orange, Morris received the inaugural National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom’s Frederick Douglass Underground Railroad Legacy Award in 2012, was the first man to be awarded the Women’s E-News 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism in 2014, was the 2016 recipient of the Anne Frank Change the World Award from the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights and received the 2017 National Association of African American Honors Programs’ Legacy Keeper Award. Last year, Morris was honored with an Award of Excellence from Washington College, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ Wind Beneath My Wings award and received the Frederick Douglass Medal from the Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies at the University of Rochester. He has appeared in National Geographic’s Civil Warriors, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War the History Channel’s Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color commemorating the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. He additionally appeared in National Geographic’s Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Turner, contributed the afterward to Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American and forward to a bicentennial edition of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.
Morris will speak in the Santiago Canyon College Humanities Building, H-106, between noon and 2 p.m. at 8045 E. Chapman Avenue in Orange. The event is free, but parking is $2 and a daily parking pass will need to be purchased for those who do not have a semester parking pass.
About Santiago Canyon College
Santiago Canyon College (SCC) serves more than 17,000 credit and noncredit students each semester. In 2017, SCC was ranked #13 among the 50 Best Community Colleges in the U.S. by College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources. The college prepares students for transfer to four-year institutions and careers, and provides courses for personal and professional development, as well as customized training for business and industry. The college is recognized for its adult education program which keeps the working adult - and senior - in mind by offering flexible schedules, and community locations. Serving the residents of Anaheim Hills, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park, SCC is one of two comprehensive colleges under the auspices of the Rancho Santiago Community College District.
