Diversity Film honors Black History Month

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (01/10/2015)(readMedia)-- The winter and spring Diversity Film Series at Elizabethtown College observes National Black History month with the showing of "Mississippi Burning" at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26.

In light of debates surrounding the future of the contemporary relevance of the Civil Rights Act, written in 1965, this film explores the importance of changes brought about during Freedom Summer, a component of the civil rights movement.

"Mississippi Burning" is loosely based on the FBI murder investigation of three civil rights workers by members of the Ku Klux Klan while they took part in a campaign launched to inspire voter registration among African Americans in southern United States. The case became known as MIBURN, short for Mississippi Burning. Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe play the agents.

All Diversity Films are closed-captioned and address race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic stratification, culture and politics. The free films are shown at 7 p.m. in the College's Gibble Auditorium and are followed by discussions with Elizabethtown College professors.

Dr. Susan Traverso, Elizabethtown College's provost and senior vice president and a professor of history, is discussant for "Mississippi Burning."

Additional Diversity Films are:

Monday, Feb. 23 -- "The Central Park Five"

Documentary filmmakers Ken Burns, David McMahon and Burns' daughter, Sarah, premiered "The Central Park Five" at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012. The documentary, about the 1989 Central Park Jogger Case, explored the April 19, assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a female jogger in New York City's Central Park. And serious errors made in the conviction and sentencing of five juvenile males-four black and one of Hispanic descent. The filmmakers compare the case to the 1931 rape case of the Scottsboro Boys, which eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling on the racial makeup of juries.

Discussion leaders are Dr. Michael G. Long, associate professor of religious studies and director of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Dr. Richard Newton, assistant professor of religious studies

Monday, March 23 -- "This is England"

"This Is England" is a 2006 British drama written and directed by Shane Meadows. Like most of his films, it takes place in the East Midlands of England's midsection, where Meadows was born and, in early adolescence, became a skinhead. The story centers on a quiet town in 1983 where rude graffiti litters the walls and teenage skinheads loiter, dressed in jeans, Ben Sherman shirts and Doc Martens boots, looking for something, anything, to do. The film illustrates how the skinhead subculture, with roots in 1960s West Indian culture, especially ska, soul and reggae music, became adopted by white nationalists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene.

Discussion leader is Dr. Suzanne E. Webster, associate professor of English

Monday, April 13 -- "Hedwig and The Angry Inch"

Hedwig and The Angry Inch is an American musical comedy-drama film based on the stage musical of the same name. It follows a fictional rock band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The film was adapted and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also portrayed the title role. The music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. A transsexual punk rock girl from East Berlin tours the United States with her rock band as she tells her life story and follows the ex-boyfriend/bandmate who stole her songs. The story draws on Mitchell's life as the son of a U.S. Army Major General who once commanded the U.S. sector of occupied West Berlin. The character of Hedwig was originally inspired by a German divorced U.S. Army wife who was a Mitchell family babysitter and moonlighted as a prostitute at her Junction City, Kansas. trailer park home. The music is steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock era of David Bowie as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk godfathers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.

Discussion Leader: Dr. Colin Helb, assistant professor of communications

Contact: Jean-Paul Benowitz, Director of Student Transition Programs & Assistant Director of Academic Advising at 717-361-1110 or benowitzj@etown.edu

Read about additional events at Elizabethtown College.

Elizabethtown College, located in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Learn more: http://www.etown.edu/about/

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Posted Saturday January 10, 2015 at 06:01 am by Elizabethtown College
Last Updated Tuesday January 20, 2015 at 04:23 pm