Lexington church launches film series to improve race relations
The Race Unification Committee (RUC) of First Presbyterian Church is offering a free film series to generate positive and open discussions about how we relate to race. The RUC, formed in 2020 to seek racial justice and reconciliation, will show the award-winning television movie "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" on Saturday, April 27, at 1:30 p.m. in the church Fellowship Hall.
The movie will be followed from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. by a discussion based on written questions handed out to viewers before the film showing begins.
Admission, popcorn, soft drinks and water are free. Everyone is invited to attend.
The church is at 15 W. Third Ave., at the corner of West Third and South Main Street uptown. Please enter the Fellowship Hall from West Third Avenue.
"The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," a 1974 CBS film based on a novel by African-American writer Ernest J. Gaines, tells the life story of a woman who is born into slavery in the Deep South and survives Reconstruction and Jim Crow segregation and into the Civil Rights Movement.
Described as one of the first made-for-TV movies to deal with African-American characters with depth and sympathy, the inspiring film won nine Emmy awards, including "Best Actress" and "Actress of the Year" for Cicely Tyson, who at age 49 portrayed the title character from age 23 to 110.
The film is unrated, but includes some violence, smoking, disturbing language and sexual content.
Organizers on the church committee hope to offer a race-relations film monthly, in most cases on the third Saturday afternoon. Other possible films include "12 Years a Slave," "Harriet," "The Help," "Driving Miss Daisy," "Green Book," "Loving," "Till," "Selma," "Dr. Martin Luther King: A Historical Perspective," "The Best of Enemies," and "Just Mercy."
For more information, contact Bill Keesler, RUC co-chair, at wkeesler@triad.rr.com.
