CIVIL RIGHTS FILMS!

January 12, 2011 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

powerFilm screenings from
Eyes on the Prize and
What We Want, What We Believe – (Newsreel & documentary footage of the Black Panther Party)

Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, Eyes on the Prize traces the civil rights movement from the Montgomery bus boycott to the Voting Rights Act; from early acts of individual courage through the flowering of a mass movement and its eventual split into factions. Julian Bond, political leader and civil rights activist, narrates. What We Want, What We Believe is not a straight-forward documentary but more like a tapestry woven from fragments of cloth. As a whole, these fragments present a rich and provocative history, straight from the mouths of Panthers, their supporters, and even the agents charged with neutralizing them. These materials are crucial to our continuing understanding of the Black Panther Party and their legacy.

off the pigEYES ON THE PRIZE:

Power! (1966-68) – The call for Black Power takes various forms across communities in black America. In Cleveland, Carl Stokes wins election as the first black mayor of a major American city. The Black Panther Party, armed with law books, breakfast programs, and guns, is born in Oakland. Substandard teaching practices prompt parents to gain educational control of a Brooklyn school district but then lead them to a showdown with New York City’s teachers’ union.

WHAT WE WANT, WHAT WE BELIEVE: Repression, Off the Pig & May Day – Newsreel footage of rarely seen interviews and public speeches of the Black Panther Party members by the film collective, Newsreel.

Free to the Public