Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle Film Screenings at the Library
To introduce three documentaries with riveting new footage illustrating the history of civil rights in America, the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library will offer a series of programs in February.
Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that uses the power of documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history. NEH has partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to develop programmatic and support materials for the sites.
The Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library is one of 473 institutions across the country awarded a set of films chronicling the history of the civil rights movement. The powerful documentaries, The Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, Freedom Riders, and The Loving Story, include dramatic scenes of incidents in the 150-year-effot to achieve equal rights for all. Freedom Riders received an Emmy in 2012, and The Loving Story and The Abolitionists have been nominated for Emmys in 2013.
Three of these documentaries will be shown in local libraries during the month of February:
The Loving Story | Saturday, February 22 at 3 pm
Tracy Branch Library – 20 E. Eaton Avenue, Tracy
Freedom Riders | Monday, February 24 at 6 pm
Cesar Chavez Central Library – 605 N. El Dorado Street, Stockton
Slavery by Another Name | Tuesday, February 25 at 6 pm
Maya Angelou Library – 2324 Pock Lane, Stockton
In addition to the film showings, the Cesar Chavez Central Library will host a special program entitled Freedom Rides: Our Personal Perspective featuring civil rights activists who participated in the iconic Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips from Washington, D.C. to the Deep South in 1961. Helen and Robert Singleton will share their experiences with respect to racial discrimination and injustices before and after the Freedom Rides, the Freedom Rides’ place in history and its legacy, and their thoughts and observations about the Civil Rights movement. A question and answer period will follow the presentation. This program is made possible through funding by the Library & Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County.
Freedom Rides: Our Personal Perspective | Monday, February 3 at 6 pm
Cesar Chavez Central Library – 605 N. El Dorado Street, Stockton
“We are pleased to receive a grant from NEH to provide programming around these films. We believe these film showings and programs will resonate with our community members who are interested in understanding the efforts made to achieve equal rights for all citizens,” said Chris Freeman, City Librarian.
Each of the films was produced with NEH support, and each tells remarkable stories of individuals who challenged the social and legal status quo of deeply rooted institutions, from slavery to segregation. Created Equal programs bring communities together to revisit our shared history and help bridge deep racial and cultural divides in American civic life. Visit www.neh.gov/created-equal for more information.
The Created Equal film set is made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
These programs are free and open to the public. The Tracy, Cesar Chavez, and Maya Angelou Libraries are part of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library. For more information, call (209) 937-8221 or (866) 805-7323. Visit the Library’s website at www.ssjcpl.org and fan or follow us on twitter.com/ssjcpl and facebook.com/ssjcpl.