Celebrate Black History Month with ACME Screening Room: Remembering a time of challenge, courage, and triumph: MLK, Selma, and the Voting Rights Act.
Enjoy live jazz, cinema, and an Alabama-informed reception!
In recognition of Black History Month, on Saturday, February 15, at 4 p.m., ACME will provide an experience of song, cinema, and an Alabama-informed reception anchored by a conversation between Jim Johnson, a lawyer and community activist, and the Reverend Paul Smith who marched in Selma after he answered King’s call to clergy across the country.
A Billboard #1 Chart trumpeter and producer, Alex Parchment, will play live with a Jazz House Kids ensemble. For over 20 years, Jazz House Kids have been transforming lives using the power and legacy of jazz through world-class education and performances. The organization’s signature program is the award-winning Montclair Jazz Festival. For more information on their programming, visit www.JazzHouseKids.org
About the film: Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for Blacks to register to vote. In 1965, an Alabama city became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated with President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Rated PG-13, 2h8m
Reverend Paul Smith is a retired Presbyterian Minister who built multiracial congregations over four decades. His life work is captured in the biography,
The Beloved Community. To this day he remains a constant friend of Ambassador Andy Young who introduced Paul to the Reverend Martin Luther King, and the movement, in 1963.
James E. Johnson is an American politician, attorney, and community activist, who was an Under Secretary of the US Treasury. After serving in the Clinton administration, Johnson returned to private practice where he subsequently chaired the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. He left the commercial practice of law in 2016 and has since served as special counsel to Governor Murphy and the Corporation Counsel of New York City. He and his wife Nancy Northup currently reside in Lambertville, NJ.