Civil rights film series at Old Salem
Old Salem Museums & Gardens is screening clips from four documentaries in January, February and April.
The footage that will be shown will illustrate the history of civil rights in America. The screenings will include discussion forums and scholarly presentations.
Old Salem is one of 473 institutions across the country awarded the opportunity to show the films through Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that uses the power of documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history.
All screenings will take place in the James A. Gray, Jr. Auditorium in the Old Salem Visitor Center at 900 Old Salem Road in Winston-Salem. These programs are free and open to the public, although registration is required. To register, please call 1-800-441-5305. School groups are asked to register at least seven days in advance. Reservations are preferred for individuals, although an individual may attend without a reservation if space permits.
Portions of the following films will be screened:
• “Freedom Riders,” on Saturday, Jan. 17 from 2 – 3:30 p.m., will be shown followed by an interactive discussion with Collis Crews, a participant in the 2011 Student Freedom Ride, a re-enactment of the Freedom Rides orchestrated by the Congress of Racial Equality in the spring of 1961. The Parkland High School Choral Ensemble and Dance Team will perform. Additional discussions with Wanda Allen-Abraha, director of the City of Winston-Salem’s Human Relations Department, and L. Wesley Harris Jr., interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Wake Forest University, will take place.
• “Slavery by Another Name,” on Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., will be shown followed by an interactive discussion led by Dr. Anthony Parent, professor of History and American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University.
• “The Abolitionists” will be shown on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Dr. Anthony Parent will also lead the interactive discussion.
• “The Loving Story,” on Wednesday, April 15 from 12 –1:30 p.m., will be followed by a discussion with Susie Powell, co-author of this award-winning film. She will talk about what inspired her to write about Richard and Mildred Loving, the interracial couple who lived in Virginia in the 1950s and were subsequently arrested for getting married.
For more information on the series, visit oldsalem.org
