12 May Human Rights and Philadelphia

In keeping with our mission, American INSIGHT has been a proud advocate for human rights around the world.

Each year, many of the films submitted to the Free Speech Film Festival expose how the lack of even basic human rights has created unfathomably difficult living conditions in many countries, including Iran, Cuba and India.

Philadelphia has not only been the setting for many historic moments in history, it has also been  the site of notable human rights advances. In fact, the city’s role in advancing human rights in America dates back to the 1600s.

Planting the Seeds

In 1688, long before the Founders created the framework for the United States, Francis Daniel Pastorius and three other Quakers, drafted what is considered the first, formal anti-slavery resolution in America.  It was called The Germantown Petition, and it raised objections to slavery on both moral and practical grounds at a time when Pennsylvania Quakers were nearly unanimous in their acceptance of the practice.

Although the petition didn’t have an immediate impact on the abolition of slavery, it is still widely recognized as the first organized protest against slavery in the New World.

Due to the efforts of many dedicated Quakers in Philadelphia, the broader community was eventually convinced that slavery was wrong and by 1776, a Philadelphia Yearly Meeting prohibited Quaker members from owning slaves.

Civil Rights and Philadelphia

In 1830, Philadelphia became the birthplace of the first civil rights movement in the United States.

The Colored Conventions Movement, which was held in September of 1830 at Mother Bethel AME Church, resulted in the foundation of the American Society of Free Persons of Colour.

This national convention started in response to the 1829 Ohio race riots and spawned a structured, nationwide movement to fight discrimination.

Philadelphia has been home to many of the most important equality advocates whose  efforts inspired generations who would follow them to set many of the standards we’ve seen throughout history.

These advocates included:

• James Forten, a prominent Black leader in the post-colonial era and a well-known 19^th century abolitionist and activist. In 1833, he became vice-president of the interracial American Anti-Slavery Society and worked for the national abolition of slavery.
• Octavius Catto, a pioneer in the desegregation movement who led the fight to have Philadelphia’s horse-drawn trolley desegregated in 1867.
• Sadie T.M. Alexander, the first African American woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law when she graduated in 1918. She later became the first African American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania. In 1946, she was appointed to the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, which was established by President Harry Truman.

In another first, in 1951, when Philadelphia founded the Commission on Human Relations, it became the first city charter in the United States to include a ban on racial and religious discrimination in city employment, services, and contracts.

Inspired by Philadelphia’s key role in the fight for human rights and civil rights, the American Insight Free Spech film Festival showcases stories that deal with these issues from around the world.

Spotlight on Free Speech Award Winner: Free China: The Courage to Believe (2012)

Free China: The Courage to Believe was the inaugural Free Speech Award-winning film in 2012. The documentary, which was written and directed by Michael Perlman, shared the true story of Jennifer Zeng, a mother and former Communist Party member who was eventually imprisoned by the Chinese Government for her faith after practicing Falun Gong, a belief that combined Buddhism and Daoism.

At the time the film was created, China’s prisoners of conscience were subjected to forced labor and even organ harvesting. In addition to shining a light on these issues, the film exposed profound issues such as genocide and unfair trade practices with the West. However, it also highlighted how new internet technologies were helping to bring freedom to more than 1.3 billion people living in China and other repressive regimes throughout the world.

The documentary also told the story of Dr. Charles Lee, a Chinese American businessman who was arrested for trying to stop the persecution by attempting to broadcast uncensored information on state- controlled television. He was sentenced to three years in a re-education prison camp in China, where he endured forced labor.

In addition to the Free Speech Award, the film won awards at several film festivals and was a 2014 Oscar contender for Best Documentary, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.