🏆 Best Local Documentary
2025 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
🎬 Official Selection
2026 Black History Film Festival
Screenings in Atlanta, Miami, Oakland and Washington, D.C.
Nearly two centuries after Frederick Douglass delivered his only college commencement address, a new generation of students brings his words back to life.
Just and Perfect reimagines Douglass’ historic 1854 speech, “The Claims of the Negro: Ethnologically Considered,” delivered on the campus then known as Western Reserve College. In a nation divided by slavery and pseudoscience, Douglass dismantled the myths of scientific racism and asserted the shared humanity of all people, using nothing but the power of language.
Through student performances of Douglass’ original text and insights from leading scholars, Just and Perfect connects a defining moment in American history to the questions of justice, education and belonging that still shape our world today.
About the Film
Commissioned as part of Western Reserve Academy’s Bicentennial, Just and Perfect blends past and present to illuminate a pivotal yet often overlooked chapter of Frederick Douglass’ life. The documentary centers on four WRA students who recite and interpret Douglass’ speech — one of the earliest instances of a Black speaker addressing a predominantly white academic institution.
Their voices are woven together with commentary from historians, alumni and civic leaders, inviting viewers to consider how Douglass’ words resonate in classrooms, communities and conversations today.
At its heart, the film is a meditation on the enduring power of education and the courage of students, then and now, to ask difficult questions in pursuit of truth.
Key Voices & Contributors
Frederick Douglass
Abolitionist, writer and orator whose 1854 commencement address forms the foundation of the film.
Student Performers
Jayden Kersh '26 • Roberts Sartor '26 • Glory Kabia '25 • Daryn Amos '25
Western Reserve Academy students who bring Douglass’ words to life through performance and reflection.
CeCe Payne
Writer & Producer
Bicentennial/Campaign Special Projects Manager & Communications Specialist and former executive producer of the youth-led history podcast UnTextbooked.
Michael A.F. Johnson ’84
Executive Producer
Trustee, Alumnus and Project Champion who first proposed the idea for Just and Perfect, helping spark the project and shepherd it from concept to completion.
Meg Colafella
Executive Producer
Chief Communications Officer at Western Reserve Academy, providing creative leadership and vision for the film, as well as strategic guidance for public outreach that elevated Just and Perfect beyond campus — helping position the documentary for festival success and national visibility.
Immanuel Mullen
Director
Founder of Cleveland-based production company The Story Is.
Featured Scholars & Voices
Dr. David Blight (Yale University) • Greg Pennington '71 • Menna Demessie '98 • Suzanne Walker Buck P '24
Historians and civic leaders who contextualize Douglass’ speech and its legacy.