The first two films in the “Created Equal” program will be shown on Marshall University’s Huntington campus beginning Monday, Oct. 14.
Marshall University is one of 473 institutions across the country awarded a set of four powerful documentary films (“The Abolitionists,” “Slavery by Another Name,” “Freedom Riders” and “The Loving Story”) as part of the “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle” grant, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that uses the power of documentary films to spark public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in America.
On Monday, Oct. 14, the Emmy-nominated PBS mini-series, “The Abolitionists,” will be shown in the Drinko Library Auditorium, Room DL 402, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the powerful PBS documentary, “Slavery By Another Name,” will be shown in the Drinko Library Auditorium, Room DL 402, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Both screenings are free and open to the public, and the community is encouraged to attend.
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Dr. David J. Trowbridge, director of the African and African American Studies program at Marshall and Burnis Morris, Carter G. Woodson Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications, will lead a facilitated discussion with special guest Sylvia Ridgeway, the president of the West Virginia Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in the Drinko Library Auditorium, Room DL 402, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Ridgeway, a lifelong Huntington resident and Marshall alumna, was honored by The Huntington Herald-Dipatch as the Citizen of the Year for 2012 for her work as the driving force behind the NAACP in West Virginia.
The facilitated discussion will be immediately followed by a public reception with beverages and light refreshments provided by the MU Libraries in the Drinko Library Atrium, giving students, faculty, staff and the community an opportunity to interact and have informal chats about the importance of civil rights in the U.S.
The Marshall University Libraries will offer additional Created Equal programming to celebrate African American History Month in February, including public film screenings of “Freedom Riders” and “The Loving Story.”
