IN CELEBRATION OF WOMENS' HISTORY MONTH The Crucial Arts Monthly Documentary Film Series Presents: Standing On My Sisters' Shoulders
by Joan Sadoff and Dr. Robert Sadoff
The award-winning documentary “Standing On My Sisters’ Shoulders” takes on the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. These women stood up and fought for the right to vote and the right to an equal education. They not only brought about change in Mississippi, but they altered the course of American history.
The Civil Rights movement brought forth many heroes, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, who have been made famous by their commitment to the cause. Yet most of us have never heard of Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine, Unita Blackwell, Mae Bertha Carter, or Victoria Gray Adams. But without the efforts of these women, the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi would not have been possible. In a state where lynching of black males was the highest in the nation, a unique opportunity for women emerged to become activists in the movement. This is their story of commitment, bravery and leadership in the face of a hostile and violent segregated society. This documentary presents original interviews with many of the Civil Rights movement’s most remarkable women: Unita Blackwell, a sharecropper turned activist, who became Mississippi’s first female black mayor; Mae Bertha Carter, a mother of 13, whose children became the first to integrate the Drew County schools against dangerous opposition; white student activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland who not only participated in sit-ins but took a stand on integration by attending an all black university; Annie Devine and Victoria Gray Adams, who, along with Fannie Lou Hamer, stepped up and challenged the Democratic Party and President Johnson at the 1964 Convention.
In the name of freedom and equal rights, these women bravely faced great adversity and risked their physical safety, their jobs, and even their lives. When asked how they did it, one activist said, “I was standing on my sisters’ shoulders.”
The Crucial Arts Monthly Doc Film Series Presents: No! Confronting Sexual Assault In Our Communities
NO! Confronting Sexual Assault In Our Communities by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, is a new documentary film about the impact of sexual violence on Black women and girls. As the incidents of violence and sexual assault continue on campuses and in communities across the country, this film can be used to support both women and men, regardless of race, as they learn to navigate the challenging terrain of sexuality --without violence. Created by an award-winning producer to shed light on the challenges and solutions to sexual assault in the African American community. NO! artfully combines socio-historical inquiry with messages from violence prevention advocates and first person testimonial from survivors.
Negroes With Guns: Robert Williams and Black Power witnesses the breakdown of trust between the United States government and its citizens, as influenced by race, class and gender..
The Crucial Arts Monthly Documentary Film Series Presents: Beyond Conviction
by Rachel Libert
In 1998, the state of Pennsylvania launched a pioneering mediation program in which victims of violent crimes or their family members could meet face-to-face with the perpetrators of their crimes. The program provides an opportunity for survivors to express long-brewing emotions and get answers to questions that have haunted them. It also allows perpetrators to express remorse and attempt to make amends after years of reflection.
Beyond Conviction follows three pairs of survivors and perpetrators as they go through this emotionally intense program. This powerful documentary provides a rare glimpse into the lingering pain, questions and regrets for both sides and reveals the bold and difficult path to redemption and reconciliation.
These stories are part of a revolutionary new approach to criminal justice called Restorative Justice which focuses on the human-versus-legal consequences of crime. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that offers Victim-Offender Mediation as part of its regular criminal justice process and is also one of the few to work with violent crime cases. Over a five year period, filmmaker Rachel Libert had complete access to the program, and captured the stories from the beginning – when the survivors first request to meet with the perpetrators, to the meeting itself, and finally to the after-effects of the year-long process on both the survivors and the perpetrators. This access allows a tremendous sense of immediacy and the raw emotion displayed is riveting. The pain of each survivor (a woman who was raped, the mother of a murdered son, the daughter of a murdered mother) is matched by the guilt and remorse of the perpetrators. Loaded questions like “How could you kill someone you love?”, “Why me?” and “What were her last words?” lead to gut-wrenching confessions and inconceivable forgiveness.
Beyond Conviction offers an eye-opening look into a process that could have far-reaching repercussions for the ways we approach crime, criminal justice and conflict resolution.
The Crucial Arts Monthly Documentary Film Series Presents: Race: The Power Of An Illusion: Episode 1 - The Difference Between Us
Written, Produced and Directed by: Christine Herbes-Sommerst
Narrated by CCH Pounder
The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has became so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, three-hour series by California Newsreel claims. Race - The Power of an Illusion questions the very idea of race as biology, suggesting that a belief in race is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth. It looks at several scientific discoveries that illustrate why humans cannot be subdivided into races and how there isn't a single characteristic, trait - or even one gene - that can be used to distinguish all members of one race from all members of another.
Yet race still matters. Just because race doesn't exist in biology doesn't mean it isn't very real, helping shape life chances and opportunities.
Episode 1- The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.
The award-winning documentary “Standing On My Sisters’ Shoulders” takes on the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. These women stood up and fought for the right to vote and the right to an equal education. They not only brought about change in Mississippi, but they altered the course of American history.
The Civil Rights movement brought forth many heroes, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, who have been made famous by their commitment to the cause. Yet most of us have never heard of Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine, Unita Blackwell, Mae Bertha Carter, or Victoria Gray Adams. But without the efforts of these women, the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi would not have been possible. In a state where lynching of black males was the highest in the nation, a unique opportunity for women emerged to become activists in the movement. This is their story of commitment, bravery and leadership in the face of a hostile and violent segregated society. 
This documentary presents original interviews with many of the Civil Rights movement’s most remarkable women: Unita Blackwell, a sharecropper turned activist, who became Mississippi’s first female black mayor; Mae Bertha Carter, a mother of 13, whose children became the first to integrate the Drew County schools against dangerous opposition; white student activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland who not only participated in sit-ins but took a stand on integration by attending an all black university; Annie Devine and Victoria Gray Adams, who, along with Fannie Lou Hamer, stepped up and challenged the Democratic Party and President Johnson at the 1964 Convention. 
1998, the state of Pennsylvania launched a pioneering mediation program in which victims of violent crimes or their family members could meet face-to-face with the perpetrators of their crimes. The program provides an opportunity for survivors to express long-brewing emotions and get answers to questions that have haunted them. It also allows perpetrators to express remorse and attempt to make amends after years of reflection. 
ersus-legal consequences of crime. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that offers Victim-Offender Mediation as part of its regular criminal justice process and is also one of the few to work with violent crime cases. Over a five year period, filmmaker Rachel Libert had complete access to the program, and captured the stories from the beginning – when the survivors first request to meet with the perpetrators, to the meeting itself, and finally to the after-effects of the year-long process on both the survivors and the perpetrators. This access allows a tremendous sense of immediacy and the raw emotion displayed is riveting. The pain of each survivor (a woman who was raped, the mother of a murdered son, the daughter of a murdered mother) is matched by the guilt and remorse of the perpetrators. Loaded questions like “How could you kill someone you love?”, “Why me?” and “What were her last words?” lead to gut-wrenching confessions and inconceivable forgiveness. 
The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has became so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, three-hour series by California Newsreel claims. Race - The Power of an Illusion questions the very idea of race as biology, suggesting that a belief in race is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth. It looks at several scientific discoveries that illustrate why humans cannot be subdivided into races and how there isn't a single characteristic, trait - or even one gene - that can be used to distinguish all members of one race from all members of another. 
