The University of Mississippi Libraries and Center for the Study of Southern Culture have partnered with the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation and the Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library to present a set of four films based on the history of the civil rights movement in America.
Two of the four documentaries shown this semester were “The Loving Story” and “Freedom Riders.” The other films, “The Abolitionists” and “Slavery by Another Name,” will be shown in the fall.
The films are made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities initiative called “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle.” NEH has partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to provide the materials for 473 sites in the U.S. to show the films.
In Oxford, the public library and the J.D. Williams Library are presenting the films to the public at no cost. The screenings are meant to foster discussion, so panel discussions that explore the theme of each film are planned for each screening.
“These films chronicle the long and sometimes violent effort to achieve the rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — for all Americans,” said Melissa Dennis, outreach librarian and grant recipient for the University Libraries.
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture also received grant funding for the film series to collaborate with the libraries.
“We are pleased to receive a grant from NEH to provide programming around these films,” said Becca Walton, associate director of projects for the CSSC. “The four Created Equalfilms provide a vehicle to connect the stories of the long civil rights movement and the changing meanings of freedom and equality in the U.S., the South, Mississippi and Oxford.”
About sgmorris