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It ought to concern every person, because it’s a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at the social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name—modern slavery. Our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time… —President Barack Obama, September 25, 2012 |
The same week President Obama made this statement, a film called Journey to Freedom played in U.S. Embassies around the globe. It tells the true stories of two men—21st Century Cambodian Vannak Prum and 19th Century American Solomon Northup—who were sold into slavery more than 150 years apart. It also examines the communities of abolitionists from yesterday and today that fight to free men and women like Vannak and Solomon who are held against their will and forced to work for others.
Journey to Freedom focuses in on the common roles played by individual abolitionists throughout history and the present day — Advocates, Defenders, Freedom Fighters, Caretakers — and then pulls back to reveal these individuals to be part of a vast network, a community of abolitionists, that has and is waging this battle.
Explore the network map above to learn more about the abolitionist heroes depicted in Journey to Freedom and others just like them.
In showing the inter-related individual roles that everyday people have played in history and today to end slavery, Journey to Freedom really asks “will YOU join the network?”
This film is a Fair Trade Pictures Production
This production was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the Fair Trade Productions and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State
The funding that made this production possible was provided, in part, by