Mark Mabry | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Brooks Institute; Arizona State |
| Occupation | Photographer; writer; cinematographer; activist |
| Known for | The Abolitionists; Man in the Moon (event) |
Mark Mabry is an American photographer, [1] cinematographer, [2] and activist, [3] best known for his photographic depictions of Jesus, his work with political commentator Glenn Beck and his anti-slavery activism. [4]
In 2008 and 2009 Mark published two Reflections of Christ photo books recreating scenes from the life of Jesus. [1] During that time he was also featured in two short documentaries by producer Cameron Trejo, based on those photo shoots. [5] The photos have been in an exhibit that has toured the U.S. and Canada. [6]
Mabry was hired to work with Beck in 2012 as creative director of Mercury Radio Arts. [7]
In 2014 Mark became involved with Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), an organization rescuing children from sex traffickers. [1] He appeared in the 2016 documentary, The Abolitionists , a film following the sting operations of O.U.R. [4] and in 2018 was a cinematographer for "Operation Toussaint", another film about modern day slavery. [8]
Mabry produces and co-hosts "Slave Stealers", a podcast about human trafficking which has featured guests like former Mexican president Vicente Fox, Montel Williams, Marisol Nichols, and Beck. [3] He also hosts and produces the "Gifted and Lifted Podcast", a show featuring "high achievers" who credit their belief in God with their success. [9]
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. The network was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees. The enslaved who risked escape and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the "Underground Railroad". Various other routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished, and to islands in the Caribbean that were not part of the slave trade. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until approximately 1790. However, the network now generally known as the Underground Railroad began in the late 18th century. It ran north and grew steadily until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. One estimate suggests that by 1850, approximately 100,000 enslaved people had escaped to freedom via the network.
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
Slavery in Canada includes both that practised by First Nations from earliest times and that under European colonization.
Christian views on slavery are varied regionally, historically and spiritually. Slavery in various forms has been a part of the social environment for much of Christianity's history, spanning well over eighteen centuries. In the early years of Christianity, slavery was an established feature of the economy and society in the Roman Empire, and this persisted in different forms and with regional differences well into the Middle Ages. Saint Augustine described slavery as being against God's intention and resulting from sin. In the eighteenth century the abolition movement took shape among Christians across the globe.
Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen, born Jarm Logue, in slavery, was an African-American abolitionist and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and an author of a slave narrative.
Songs of the Underground Railroad were spiritual and work songs used during the early-to-mid 19th century in the United States to encourage and convey coded information to escaping slaves as they moved along the various Underground Railroad routes. As it was illegal in most slave states to teach slaves to read or write, songs were used to communicate messages and directions about when, where, and how to escape, and warned of dangers and obstacles along the route.
The Reverse Underground Railroad is the name given, sardonically, to the pre-American Civil War practice of kidnapping in free states not only fugitive slaves but free blacks as well, transporting them to slave states, and selling them as slaves, or occasionally getting a reward for return of a fugitive. Those who used the term were pro-slavery and angered at an "underground railroad" helping slaves escape. Also, the so-called "reverse underground railroad" had incidents but not a network, and its activities did not always take place in secret. Rescues of blacks being kidnapped were unusual.
Thomas C. Christensen is an American cinematographer, film director, and writer best known for his work on films related to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, Gordon B. Hinckley: A Giant Among Men, 17 Miracles, and Ephraim's Rescue. He has made films about the Martin and Willie handcart companies who traversed the plains toward the Salt Lake Valley in late 1856. Christensen is also a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
The Slave Route Project is a UNESCO initiative that was officially launched in 1994 in Ouidah, Benin. It is rooted in the mandate of the organization, which believes that ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples. The project breaks the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery that has affected all continents and caused great upheavals that have shaped our modern societies. In studying the causes, the modalities and the consequences of slavery and the slave trade, the project seeks to enhance the understanding of diverse histories and heritages stemming from this global tragedy.
Charles Turner Torrey was a leading American abolitionist. Although largely lost to historians until recently, Torrey pushed the abolitionist movement to more political and aggressive strategies, including setting up one of the first highly organized lines for the Underground Railroad and personally freeing approximately 400 slaves. Torrey also worked closely with free blacks, thus becoming one of the first to consider them partners. John Brown cited Torrey as one of the three abolitionists he looked to as models for his own efforts.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls is a 2011 American documentary film about modern human trafficking, specifically sexual slavery. Presented from a Christian worldview, Nefarious covers human trafficking in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, alternating interviews with re-enactments. Victims of trafficking talk about having been the objects of physical abuse and attempted murder. Several former prostitutes talk about their conversion to Christianity, escape from sexual oppression, and subsequent education or marriage. The film ends with the assertion that only Jesus can completely heal people from the horrors of sexual slavery.
Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."
The Abolitionists is a 2016 documentary film by Darrin Fletcher and Chet Thomas about a sting mission orchestrated in Colombia by the independent Operation Underground Railroad jump team, led by former U.S. Homeland Security Special Agent Timothy Ballard, countering child sex trafficking.
Human trafficking in New York is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor. It occurs in the state of New York and is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes, "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is a United States-based nonprofit organization involved in the rescue of human trafficking and sex trafficking victims, with a special focus on children, and a wider goal of eliminating sex trafficking world-wide. The group was founded in 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Tim Ballard, a former officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Latter Day Saint movement has had varying and conflicting teachings on slavery. Early converts were initially from the Northern United States and opposed slavery, believing that their opposition was supported by Mormon scripture. After the church base moved to the slave state of Missouri and gained Southern converts, church leaders began to own slaves. New scriptures instructing Latter-Day Saints not to intervene in the lives of the slaves of others were revealed. A few slave owners joined the church, and when they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, they took their slaves with them, even though Illinois was a free state.
Timothy "Tim" Ballard is an anti-human trafficking activist and author. He is the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), CEO of The Nazarene Fund and the author of several books. Ballard has credited his organization with rescuing thousands of trafficking victims, although his numbers have been disputed, and O.U.R has been criticized for a lack of transparency and exaggerating stories. O.U.R. is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Davis County Attorney's office. Ballard has faced criticism for broadcasting raids without regards for victim privacy.
Sound of Freedom is an upcoming American biographical action drama film directed by Alejandro Monteverde and starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp. Caviezel plays Tim Ballard, a self-styled anti-human trafficking activist and founder of the organization Operation Underground Railroad.
