Weekly Platform meetings are held at 11 a.m. September through May. Our Platforms are free and open to the public. A coffee hour follows for discussion and conversation. We have Ethics for Children classes starting each Sunday morning at 10:45AM; child care provided for children to seven years. Free parking is available with a permit you can get inside the Society's office. Classical piano interludes are performed by Katarzyna ("Kasia") Marzec-Salwinski.

February 5, 2012
Varieties of Valentines: The Many Shades of Love
Speaker: Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia
What are we celebrating on Valentines Day anyway? Is it all about the sappy Hallmark cards full of heterosexual couples gazing into each other’s eyes? Who defines what love is worthy of poetic praise, and what love stays hidden in the shadows of shame? And what’s sex got to do with it all? Join Leader Hugh Taft-Morales as he explores a world way beyond the comfort zone of his Puritan New England upbringing.

February 12, 2012
The Importance of Cultural Identity for African Americans
Speaker: Karen Warrington
The history of Blacks in America did not start in America. Blacks were not slaves, they were enslaved Africans, with complex histories, culture, religions and languages.

Karen Warrington is a communications expert, a broadcast journalist and a performing artist. She is the Director of Communications for Congressman Robert A. Brady. Previously she was press secretary to Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode, an award-winning news director at WDAS AM /FM Radio, host and producer of weekly television programs, and the lead dancer and a choreographer with the Arthur Hall Afro American Dance Ensemble. She lectures and writes about the challenges facing the African American family and the need for African Americans to embrace, and educate themselves, about African traditions and culture. Her enduring interest in world cultures has taken her to China, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

February 19, 2012
Is It Time for Reparations?
Speaker: Ron Peden
America is at a crossroads, facing serious and seemingly unprecedented threats to its viability both at home and abroad. Author/activist Ron Peden sees addressing the persistent racial divide, through Reparations, as a critical path forward for the country, in order to definitively coalesce and come together to solve the serious challenges ahead.

Ron Peden is a native of Philadelphia and current resident of Cambridge, MA. A graduate of Temple University (BBA) and New England Law/Boston (JD), his background is in community organizing and neighborhood development with various CDC’s and non-profits in both the Philadelphia and Boston areas.

February 26, 2012
Langston Hughes
Speaker: Ralph Hunter
Ralph Hunter will talk about his archive of historical material. His collection includes signed first editions of some of the b e s t - k n o w n works of the American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist Langston Hughes. These items are now housed in the African-American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey .

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