Black on Screen: Legacies of Abolition

Screening

Queen Mother Moore Speech at Greenhaven Pr*son, People's Communication Network, 1973, Runtime: 17 mins.

Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?, John Edginton, 1998, Runtime: 75 mins.

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“Legacies of Abolition" is the third program in Stand Up, Fight Back! the third season of Black on Screen, guest-curated by Maysles Documentary Center Executive Director, Kazembe Balagun. This season chronicles histories of Black-American and Afro-diasporic coalition building and resistance movements on screen, narrated by intersectional voices.

Join us as we amplify grassroots abolitionist organizing in the fight against mass incarceration, co-presented with . RAPP is a “grassroots advocacy campaign created and led by formerly incarcerated people, working to end racist law-and-order policies, end life imprisonment, and to “expand the use of parole, compassionate release, and clemency.”

We will begin the program with a screening of Queen Mother Moore Speech at Greenhaven Pr*son. Queen Mother Moore was a Black nationalist activist whose work was instrumental in the fight for reparations and self-determination for Black Americans. Two years following the Attica Pr*son rebellion, Moore spoke at a community day at the federal Greenhaven Pr*son in Connecticut where she discussed her organizing efforts. The event was recorded by People's Communication Network and it broadcasted on cablecast in New York City. This documentation marked the first time a video collective was allowed to record inside Pr*son walls.

The feature film, John Edginton’s 1998 documentary, Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?, renders the questionable conviction of activist and journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal, for the 1981 M**der of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Screenings will be followed by a conversation with RAPP staff members moderated by Kazembe Balagun.

Accessibility requests can be made by e-mail [email protected].

Black on Screen: A Century of Radical Visual Culture, captures 100 years of local and transnational Black movement work and artistic evolution on film. Sourced from The Schomburg’s collection and others, it takes a kaleidoscopic look at Black life and expression across diasporas, rendering a range of storytelling traditions that incite and inspire Black world-building. The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division (MIRS, pronounced “meers”) at the Schomburg Center collects and preserves audio and moving image (AMI) materials related to the experiences of people of African descent. The division has amassed nearly 400 collections, approximately 5,000 square feet, in a variety of formats, which captures the gestures and sounds of major historical, artistic and cultural moments and influencers. While the strength is the Black American holdings there is considerable Caribbean and African representation in the collection.

This year, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture continues celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding! Join us all year long for a wide array of special events, exhibitions, and more as we celebrate this milestone and continue the legacy of Arturo Schomburg.

Schomburg100 | Exhibition | Special-Edition Library Card | Become a Member

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FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early. We generally overbook to ensure a full house.

GUESTS Please note that holding seats in the Langston Hughes Auditorium is strictly prohibited and there is no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the Schomburg Center.

ACCESSIBLILITY Accessibility requests can be made by e-mail [email protected].

E-TRANSPORTATION NYPL policy prohibits electric transportation devices (e.g., motorbikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards) from being brought into or stored at library sites for any length of time, as this is the best way to keep our spaces & people safe.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Programs are photographed and recorded by the Schomburg Center. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected].

Please note that personal and professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

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Host or Publisher Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture