Just one day before Lincoln’s Birthday, Hartford resident Ana Alarcon will embark on a special trip to Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C. to work with Kenneth Morris, the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and President of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, and Luis CdeBaca, the head of the US State department’s office to fight human trafficking.
Alarcon will join Morris, CdeBaca, and other experts on abolition, slavery, and human trafficking at the National Museum of American History for the National Youth Summit on Abolition held by the Smithsonian museum this Monday, Feb. 11. She will be the only student representative on a panel of nationally recognized experts.
The panelists will discuss how abolitionists worked to end slavery in the 19th-century, how today’s activists use the tactics of the 19th-century to continue the fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and moderate a conversation about what individuals and organizations can do to end modern-day slavery.
Alarcon, 17, is the president of the CREC Metropolitan Learning Center’s extra-curricular group Student Abolitionists Stopping Slavery (SASS). The young Latina, who has personally organized numerous events and fundraisers and attended multiple abolitionist conferences, has been involved in the fight against modern-day slavery since she was in 9th grade. She is now a senior.
“It’s difficult to even begin to express how ecstatic I am about speaking at the Youth Summit in Washington D.C.,” shared Alarcon, who is of Colombian descent. “I’m so grateful for this amazing opportunity to represent the Metropolitan Learning Center and SASS.”
The program, the third in a series of National Youth Summits, is being held to commemorate of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and to reflect upon the abolition movement of the 19th century and explore its legacy on modern-day slavery and human trafficking. The conference will feature a number of experts and scholars, and will have students from Washington, D.C.’s public schools in the audience.
Alarcon intends to continue her work for the abolition movement throughout college, saying, “I am going to be recognized as one of the youngest people in the abolitionist movement so this is an enormous step for me. I’m ridiculously nervous, but my excitement surpasses that.”