OFFICIAL SELECTION * GREENWOOD FILM FESTIVAL * 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTION * MOREHOUSE COLLEGE HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL * 2023
OFFICAL SELECTION * FLY FILM FESTIVAL * ENID, OKLAHOMA * 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTION * GREAT PLAINS FILM FESTIVAL * 2023
In 1964, ten years after the Supreme Court’s historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing segregated education in the United States, the school system of Sand Springs, Oklahoma was still completely segregated.
This is the story of how nine African-American students, backed by a Civil Rights movement campaign, prevailed over a white school board’s opposition to integrate the high school, their memories, and how they with white classmates came together fifty-eight years later to place a plaque commemorating the events in the school’s lobby.
Featured: the role of Harlem Globetrotters star and Sand Springs native Marques Haynes in the desegregation campaign.
Duration: 31 minutes | Language: English | Subtitles: English
Premier: February 18, 2023 at 11:00 A.M., Sand Springs Cultural & Historical Museum, 9 East Broadway Street, Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Free, open to the public.
PREVIEW on YouTube
FULL FILM on Civil Rights Movement Archive
Director: James W. Russell
For information on scheduling, send email to James.r@snet.net
In March 1970, the Teaching Assistants Association at the University of Wisconsin went out on strike for twenty-four days. It was the first TA strike in the history of the United States.
This is the story of the strike that launched the first graduate student employee union in the country, the union that has continued to represent Wisconsin TAs for over fifty years.
“Brings to life the intensity of the collision that unionizing TA’s caused.” STEVE JOHNSON
“The black and white footage, and the words and actions, of these path breaking teaching assistants back in 1970, speak to us today, of courage, union solidarity, and what it takes to challenge the boss, be it a university chancellor or an Amazon CEO. This remarkable documentary should be shown and discussed in every graduate student employee organizing campaign today!” MAYNARD SEIDER, writer/director “Farewell to Factory Towns?”, author, The Gritty Berkshires: A People’s History from the Hoosac Tunnel to MASS MoCA
Documentary film 29 minutes | Language: English | Subtitles: English
Filmmakers 1970: Mike Oberdorfer, William B. Pratt, James W. Russell
Re-edited in 2021 by James W. Russell
DVDs for sale: $20 individuals, $100 institutions
Contact: James W. Russell (James.r@snet.net).