Nettie Washington Douglass follows ancestors' footsteps

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Nettie Washington Douglass follows ancestors' footsteps

Photos: Nettie Washington Douglass, direct descendant of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, lives in Atlanta.

Nettie Washington Douglass speaks to audiences across the country about family stories handed down from generation to generation. She is the great-great-granddaughter of abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass.

She is also the great-granddaughter of educator and author Booker T. Washington. Douglass, shown with grandson, Austin Morris, 5, has worked to instill a strength of character and an unassuming nature in her children and grandchildren.

Frederick Douglass (shown) and Booker Taliaferro Washington both were former slaves who fought for equality and education. However, Douglass was strongly in favor of immediate integration.

Booker T. Washington, shown here with sons Booker Jr. and Ernest, was in favor of a slower approach. In 1895, he gave a famous speech to this effect in Atlanta at the Cotton States and International Exposition.

Nettie Douglass looks almost exactly like her mother, who looked just like Booker T. Washington. But although she carries the face of Washington, her spirit is more aligned with Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass III married Nettie Hancock in 1941. He committed suicide months before their daughter Nettie was born. Here, the couple is shown with Booker T. Washington III.

Douglass walks with her grandson Austin Fredrick Bailey Morris), 5, at her other grandson Douglass Washington Morris II's eighth birthday party in Stockbridge. Douglass works with the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, which focuses on the continuing issue of human trafficking.

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Nettie Washington Douglass speaks to audiences across the country about family stories handed down from generation to generation. She is the great-great-granddaughter of abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass.

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Nettie Washington Douglass follows ancestors' footsteps

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