The Cazenovia Public Library will host free pubic screenings of two award-winning documentaries commemorating the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement and their personal battles for social justice. The films will be presented in anticipation of Changing America a traveling exhibition presented by the National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum, June 4 through July 14.
These events are collaborations with POV, the award-winning independent nonfiction film series on PBS (www.pbs.org/pov).
Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin—Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p.m. Runs 90 minutes
Join us in the Library’s Community Room for a free screening of the 2003 film Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin by Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer. The screening will be followed by a discussion of Rustin’s life and legacy.
During his 60-year career as an activist, organizer and “troublemaker,” Bayard Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His passionate belief in Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence drew Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940’s and 50’s; his practice of those beliefs drew the attention of the FBI and police. In 1963, Rustin brought his unique skills to the crowning glory of his civil rights career: his work organizing the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a “brother outsider.” Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin combines rare archival footage — some of it never before broadcast in the U.S. — with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change. Update: On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama named Bayard Rustin a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (http://www.pbs.org/pov/brotheroutsider/).
Brother Outsider is presented in association with Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963, a traveling exhibition presented by the National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum, June 4-July 14. Changing America is made possible by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of American History in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. For more information visit http://www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org/.
The Barber of Birmingham—Wednesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. Runs 25 minutes
In conjunction with the screening of Brother Outsider and the exhibition Changing America, the Library will screen another inspiring POV documentary film: Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday’s The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement. In this 2011 Oscar-nominated short film, Alabama barber and civil rights veteran James Armstrong experiences the fulfillment of an unimaginable dream: the election of the first African-American president. An Official Selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Produced in association with American Documentary | POV. A co-presentation with the National Black Programming Consortia (http://www.pbs.org/pov/barber/).
The film offers an excellent jumping off point for group discussion around questions of democracy and patriotism in the face of adversity.
All events at the Cazenovia Public Library are free and open to the public. For more information on these and other Library events, call 655-9322 or visit www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.