March 6, 2017

 
February 28, 2017 was a big day for FDFI and its supporters as we publicly introduced our Bicentennial Edition of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and the One Million Abolitionists project. 

FDFI welcomes friends and supporters to the Library of Congress

THE NARRATIVE  

FDFI and its project partners will be giving away one million hardcover copies of the Narrative to young people across the United States and beyond leading up to the Douglass Bicentennial in February, and throughout 2018. We will then ask those same young readers to undertake civic engagment projects in their communities to address issues related to equality and justice. 

The idea of raising enough money to print and deliver one million copies of the Narrative to youth everywhere seemed truly aspirational when we began discussing it in early 2016. Now that we have announced the project publicly, and seeing the way it has captured the imagination of so many people, it actually seems possible! If, however, we only reach 5,000 instead of one million, with Frederick Douglass's message that "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom,"
Mike Glenn, National Basketball Retired Players Association talks about his organization's support of the project
our supporters can be encouraged that there will be 5,000 more people attempting to affect change on issues such as systemic racism, human trafficking, inequities in the criminal justice system and other problems that rob all of us of the sense that we're living in a country that values everyone equally. We have, in fact, printed 5,000 copies of the Narrative in our first run and those have all been committed to young people and paid for through individual and organizational donors. 

Before I mention how you can get involved with the Narrative and One Million Abolitionists, I want to thank our partners and some of those that have supported us to this point:

CONFIRMED PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Ken and Nettie with NOBLE President, Chief Perry Tarrant
  • National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) 
  • National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)
  • National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) 
  • The Great Books Foundation 
  • City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts 
  • Little Free Library 


PROJECT FRIENDS
  • National Park Service
  • Library of Congress
  • U.S. Department of State
  • My Brothers Keeper Alliance
  • Urban Ministries, Inc.
  • The Embassy of Ireland
  • National Council for the Humanities
Susan Coppedge, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons speaks at the launch event about FDFI's commitment to combatting human trafficking
Pam Jackson, Director, Center for the Book, Library of Congress, welcomes the guests



HELP US FUND THE NEXT 20,000 BOOKS!

$4 will fund one copy, $40 will fund ten copies. $400 will fund one hundred copies. $4,000 will fund one thousand copies. $40,000 will fund ten thousand copies. $400,000 will fund one hundred thousand copies and, $4 million will fund one million copies! 
 
We appreciate your support to help fund the books as we work hard to give away one million copies of the Narrative to young people everywhere.  Please make a tax deductible donation today to FDFI to help supprt the  One Million Abolitionists project. 




If you or your organization want to get involved with One Million Abolitionists, please contact me at [email protected]. Also, check out our OMA project page at www.FD2018.org. In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos from last week's event.

One Million Abolitionists Launch Event at the Library of Congess

In Freedom!

Robert J. Benz
Co-founder and Executive Vice President   
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives

FDFI is a 501c3 public charity and all donations are tax deductible.