For Immediate Release
Friday, February 15, 2013
Contacts: Vickie Devenport, WSIU Outreach Coordinator, (618) 453-6148, vickie.devenport@wsiu.org
Local WSIU Film Screening to Profile Civil Rights Leader
Carbondale, Ill. -- WSIU Public Broadcasting, the public media arm of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the Carbondale Public Library will host a free Community Cinema screening of the film The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civic Rights on Saturday, February 23 at 2:30pm at the library, 405 West Main in Carbondale.
Dr. Derrick Williams, Assistant Director of the SIU Carbondale Center for Inclusive Excellence, Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Professor in the SIU Carbondale History Department, and Rev. Sidney Logwood of Rock Hill Baptist Church and past president of the Carbondale Chapter of the NAACP, will facilitate a discussion after the film.
The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights follows Whitney Young Jr.'s journey from segregated Kentucky to the national campaign for equal rights. During the turbulent 1960s, he was a diplomat between those in power and those striving for change. Young had the difficult tasks of calming the fears of white allies, relieving the doubts of fellow civil rights leaders, and responding to attacks from the militant black power movement. This complex tale explores the public and private trials of the man at the center of the storm.
The remaining Community Cinema schedule is as follows: Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (March 30), The Island President (April 27), The Revolutionary Optimists (May 25), and Love Free or Die (June 29).
Community Cinema is national civic engagement initiative featuring free film screenings of films distributed by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), followed by discussion of the themes explored in each film. Film screenings are held at the Carbondale Public Library on the last Saturday of every month at 2:30pm. Screenings will be held monthly through June 2013. The project is designed to bring communities together to discuss key social issues of our time.
For more information about WSIU's Community Cinema screenings, contact Vickie Devenport at (618) 453-6148 or vickie.devenport@wsiu.org. More information can be found online at the WSIU Community Cinema website.
The Community Cinema initiative is a service of the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
About WSIU Public Broadcasting
WSIU Public Broadcasting is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University and is an integral part of the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts on the Carbondale campus. The WSIU stations reach more than three million people across five states and beyond through three digital public television channels, three public radio stations, a radio information service, a website, and an education and community outreach department.
WSIU's mission is to improve the quality of life of the people they serve. The WSIU stations partner with other community organizations to promote positive change and to support the academic and public service missions of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Learn more and get the latest station news online at wsiu.org and on WSIU's Facebook and Twitter pages.
WSIU's programs and services are partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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