Free Screening of Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power

5320 Victoria Avenue,Riverside CA 92506

01 April, 2023

Description

The Movement for Civil Rights did not end with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and local movements played a crucial role in securing rights that were promised but not delivered. Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished county with a vicious history of racist terrorism. Laws were just paper without power in a county that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters. After months of organizing, in early 1966, African Americans in Lowndes County—with the support of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee  (SNCC) organizers—formed the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), an independent, all-Black party formed, in part, to protest the ongoing barriers to Black enfranchisement that “for decades kept every single African American of voting age off the county’s registration books.” This isn’t a story of hope but of action. Through first-person accounts and searing archival footage, LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER tells the story of the local movement and the SNCC organizers who fought not just for voting rights but for Black Power in Lowndes County. Join us for this free screening and thought-provoking panel discussion following the film about how our community can apply principles from the film to create a local movement to address health disparities in communities of color with Dr. Hasan Jeffries and local community leaders. Can't wait for you to experience this impactful film with us!