Reviews, Interviews , News, Commentaries, My Top 5 Movies, Best-Of Lists, Filmmakers of Faith, Film ForumPBS Series Depicts American Abolitionists as Fired by Faith
Before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln had a different view on what to do with the U.S. slave population. What did he suggest to black ministers?
He invited five black ministers to the White House in the summer of 1862 and he basically said, "If it weren't for your people, we wouldn't have this war." He tried to recruit them into an effort to lead colonization. These prominent ministers would lead their people and, with the aid of the government, would take them back to Africa to Liberia or to Haiti. Everyone in the abolitionist movement was absolutely stunned by this. Once he had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he never mentioned it again.
As the country marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, what message do you hope viewers will walk away with after seeing your series?
I think it's really a testament to the power of the individual. These characters were up against overwhelming odds. In hindsight, it seems like the end of slavery was inevitable, but it was in fact about the most unlikely thing in the world. And a very small set of people set this vortex in motion, which eventually swept up the country and changed our history for the better. It really is so easy to lose sight of the fact that if you're dedicated enough and if you have a clear vision of something right and true that you can, in fact, effect change.
Star Trek Into Darkness
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Jim Ricker
esau yakob, "If Jesus had condemned slavery, christians would have never enslaved Africans in the first place! " Only if this were true! Jesus told us to go the extra mile and turn our cheek (not others' cheek for them!) but many of us that follow Jesus are not personal pacifists and most of us in the Western world demand our "rights." To expect perfection is not realistic or even biblical but, followers of Jesus (myself included) should be able to say, "follow me as I follow Jesus."
Jim Ricker
History shows the vast difference between slavery in the Bible (and some other Middle Eastern cultures) and the slavery practiced in America and other nations. Anyone can proof-text a book to 'make' the book say what they wish it to say. Thank God for being the one that limited slavery through His law to the Hebrew people and for that same progressive revelation (and realization on the British and American abolitionists) where one can see how slavery was shown to be bad and needing to be lifted.
esau yakub
If Jesus had condemned slavery, christians would have never enslaved Africans in the first place! Think what kind of world we would have if Jesus had condemned slavery? It wasn't the Bible that inspired the abolitionists because it was the Bible that justified slavery. It was the evolving morals of mankind, it was the humanity of kind hearted people, nothing specific to faith. The Koran and the Bible are responsible for enabling slavery, not eliminating it. What a disappointment from PBS!