Jul 25, 2012
BATAVIA — Sixteen California educators accompanied by Kenneth B. Morris Jr., the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass, will visit the Bicentennial Peace Garden located at Paolo Busti Park in Batavia Sunday night.
The group is on a historical journey throughout the Northeast that includes parts of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Ontario, Canada and New York state.
Morris is founder and president of the Fredrick Douglass Family Foundation. He is also the great-grandson of Booker T. Washington.
The tour organizer, Gloria Kenley of Kenley Konnection based in Ohio, is a longtime personal friend of Paula Savage, local resident and president of the International Peace Garden Foundation.
Kenley has been hearing about the progress with the Trail Project and the Batavia Peace Garden. The theme of the Peace Garden Trail fits in nicely with the mission of their tour and serves as a welcome addition to the tour schedule, she said. The primary mission of the tour is to learn the story of the anti-slavery movement in the Northeast.
Douglass was a famous African-American abolitionist and leader of the 19th century. He spent part of his life in Rochester.
“The Batavia Peace Garden has meaningful historical significance and serves as an educational experience for visitors,” Savage said in a news release. “We are very pleased to have this opportunity to share our story with this group of California educators. The Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden assisted by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce and the office of the Genesee County Historian are planning an entertaining orientation for the group that includes costumed interpreters and refreshments.”
