Brooklyn hosts two important anti-slavery events next weekend that will shine a light on trafficking and the innovative methods FTS has developed to fight it.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11: Plymouth Church will be hosting a benefit concert for Free the Slaves. Join an all-star lineup, including The Impressions, Naiomi Shelton, members of The Dap-Kings, The Gospel Queens and the Inspirational Voices of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. Plymouth Church has a long history of involvement in the abolition and civil rights movements. It was once known as “Grand Central Station” of the Underground Railroad. Abraham Lincoln attended service there. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached there. The historic venue will again be filled with the sounds of freedom at the Let Freedom Ring concert.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10: Free the Slaves experts will be speaking at the Brooklyn Historical Society at a free event called “Fighting Modern-Day Slavery.” The event will feature a sneak peak at a new exhibit that chronicles unsung heroes of the abolition movement: “Brooklyn Abolitionists in Pursuit of Freedom.”
The panelists include:
- Tina Frundt, a sex trafficking survivor from Chicago who now rescues young people from slavery on the streets of Washington, D.C. She runs a telephone hotline and recovery shelter staffed by survivors like herself. Tina’s personal experiences provide special insight for providing rescue and rehabilitation services for trafficking victims.
- Timothy Patrick McCarthy, a lecturer on history, literature and public policy, and director of the Human Rights and Social Movements Program at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School. He is a historian of social movements who specializes in slavery and abolition, media culture and communications, and the politics of race, gender, and sexuality in American culture.
- Maurice I. Middleberg, executive director of Free the Slaves, who oversees the organization’s wide range of innovative anti-trafficking initiatives around the globe. These include frontline community-based projects in hotspot countries to liberate slaves and transform the economic, political and social systems that allow slavery to persist – as well as guiding the group’s policy advocacy, corporate engagement and awareness-raising programs inside the United States.
- Moderator: Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
Our thanks to Plymouth Church and the Brooklyn Historical Society for making these events possible.
