The community is invited to attend another program in the "Coming Together Racine" series of movie screenings and discussions about racism and race relations at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. (NOTE: new time, due to change in library's hours).
The film, based on a true story, revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at historically black Wiley College to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for blacks. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University. The movie also explores small-town Texas during the Depression including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. James L. Farmer Jr., at 14 years of age, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). The only female member of the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells. Melvin B. Tolson is a major African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congresss.
A member of Coming Together Racine will facilitate a discussion of the movie after the screening. Participants are encouraged to bring a brown bag supper. The series is cosponsored by Coming Together Racine and the Racine Public Library and is funded by the library's Alma Boernke Endowment Fund.
Coming Together Racine is a 501(c)3 organization developed in response to community needs identified at a Town Hall Meeting on February 25, 2005. At the event it was determined that a greater effort is needed in the Racine community to eliminate the barriers preventing equal voice and access to community resources. In response to the results from the Town Hall Meeting a community-wide committee, The Committee to Eliminate Racism, was formed. In September 2005, after assessing the Racine community's needs, the Committee to Eliminate Racism submitted an application to become an affiliate of the Coming Together Project, and in February 2006 was approved as Coming Together Racine
Coming Together Racine will work to:
The film, based on a true story, revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at historically black Wiley College to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for blacks. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University. The movie also explores small-town Texas during the Depression including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. James L. Farmer Jr., at 14 years of age, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). The only female member of the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells. Melvin B. Tolson is a major African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congresss.
A member of Coming Together Racine will facilitate a discussion of the movie after the screening. Participants are encouraged to bring a brown bag supper. The series is cosponsored by Coming Together Racine and the Racine Public Library and is funded by the library's Alma Boernke Endowment Fund.
Coming Together Racine is a 501(c)3 organization developed in response to community needs identified at a Town Hall Meeting on February 25, 2005. At the event it was determined that a greater effort is needed in the Racine community to eliminate the barriers preventing equal voice and access to community resources. In response to the results from the Town Hall Meeting a community-wide committee, The Committee to Eliminate Racism, was formed. In September 2005, after assessing the Racine community's needs, the Committee to Eliminate Racism submitted an application to become an affiliate of the Coming Together Project, and in February 2006 was approved as Coming Together Racine
Coming Together Racine will work to:
- Promote racial harmony in the community;
- Educate community members on racism and its effects on people and the community; and
- Bring people together to foster awareness and appreciation of people of all cultures.
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