Pan-African Studies celebrates Black history month with film festival
February 2, 2014
In honor of Black History Month, the Department of Pan-African Studies will be holding a film festival throughout the month of February, featuring films and documentaries on the history of civil rights.
Starting on Feb. 3, the films will be shown at Oscar Ritchie Hall and will be open to all students. The event continues through Feb. 19.
The films were chosen by faculty members in the department to “expose audiences to several accounts of lesser-known historical perspectives,” said Dawn deFoor, the administrative secretary of the Department of Pan-African Studies. Although the films focus on the struggles against racism, deFoor hopes that students will recognize the messages about other forms of discrimination, such as classism and sexism that are also present in these stories.
Black History Month Schedule of Events
February 3
12:00 p.m. – Dark Girls
5:00 p.m. – Hidden Colors
February 4
12:00 p.m. – Skin
3:00 p.m. – Chisholm ’72: Unbossed and Unbought
February 5
12:00 p.m. – Free Angela
3:00 p.m. – The Trials of Muhammad Ali
February 6
3:00 p.m. – The Black Power Mixtape (1967-1975)
7:00 p.m. – Free Angela
February 10
12:00 p.m. – Winnie
5:00 p.m. – 500 Years Later
February 11
12:00 p.m. – The Loving Story
3:00 p.m. – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
7:00 p.m. – Black Wall Street: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921
February 12
12:00 p.m. – 500 Years Later
3:00 p.m. – Skin
February 13
12:00 p.m. – Hidden Colors
3:00 p.m. – Chisholm ’72: Unbossed and Unbought
7:00 p.m. – The Trials of Muhammad Ali
February 17
12:00 p.m. – The Loving Story
3:00 p.m. – Dark Girls
7:00 p.m. – Free Angela
February 18
12:00 p.m. – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
3:00 p.m. – Black Wall Street: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921
7:00 p.m. – Winnie
February 19
3:00 p.m. – Hidden Colors
7:00 p.m. – Hidden Colors 2
Some of the films include Black Wall Street: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921, a documentary about a wealthy community of African-American families that was bombed from the air and burned to the ground in race riots in the 1920s, as well as The Loving Story, about the 1967 Supreme Court ruling over interracial marriage. There are also films about the era of apartheid in South Africa, such as Skin, a drama inspired by the true story of a dark-skinned woman born to white parents, and last year’s Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the story of the life of Nelson Mandela.
The selection of films is based on the theme of civil rights, in honor of the national theme for this year’s Black History Month. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Cinnamon Small, the outreach program officer, hopes that the films will encourage the Kent State community to think about equal rights and the long history of using protest as a method to stand up for constitutional rights. “I can’t even imagine if nobody stood up,” said Small.
Devine Lamar, a junior fashion merchandising and marketing major, has assisted in promoting the event and is looking forward to sharing these films with the public. “Hidden Colors is like a requirement,” said Lamar, referring to a documentary about the widely unknown history of people of color worldwide. “You have to see that one.” He hopes the event will gain awareness for these important films that are not promoted as widely as others.
More information about the Department of Pan-African Studies and the film festival can be found at http://www.kent.edu/CAS/PAS/index.cfm.
Contact Jason Meek at [email protected].
