MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA AND BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA PRESENT —

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AFRICAN DIASPORA FILM CLUB AT MOAD | FANNIE LOU HAMER'S AMERICA

Join us for our monthly series, The African Diaspora Film Club. Modeled after our African Book Club, we will meet once a month to discuss a film that we have all viewed in advance of the discussion. The conversation will be moderated by Cornelius Moore, co-director of California Newsreel and film series curator at MoAD. We will be choosing a selection of films, some previously screened at MoAD. You may have already seen it, or this may be your first introduction. In either case, join us for a lively discussion of the film.

This month we will be discussing FANNIE LOU HAMER'S AMERICA. You will receive instructions to join via zoom after you sign up here. Look for an email from MoAD after you sign up, if you don’t receive it in your inbox, look in your spam or junk mail.

We will not be screening the film. FANNIE LOU HAMER'S AMERICA will screen on PBS on February 22, 2022 and on WORLD CHANNEL on February 24, 2022 and will be available for streaming for 30 days following the premiere. You can find the film on your local PBS station here or on WORLD CHANNEL here.

Executive Producer Monica Land and Director Joy Davenport will join us for the discussion.

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ABOUT THE FILM

“Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave?” With those words at the 1964 Democratic Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer changed the course of Civil Rights forever. By working in the cotton fields of Mississippi from the age of six, Fannie Lou Hamer was keenly aware of the racial injustices that forced her family to labor so much while earning so little. Encouraged by her participation in groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Fannie Lou Hamer devoted herself to voter enfranchisement and increasing Black political representation. Her efforts would mobilize thousands of Black people to register to vote and inspire her historical run for Senate.

Fannie Lou Hamer's America explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of a Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist and one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders. Through the layering of audio recordings and archival video footage of her powerful speeches, soul-stirring songs and impassioned pleas for equal rights, Fannie Lou Hamer tells her extraordinary story in her own words.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Monica Land, Executive Producer

An award-winning journalist, Monica Land has been writing for local and national media outlets for more than 25 years specializing in investigative and statistical reporting, feature and enterprise articles, general news writing and historical research. As the niece of civil rights icon, Fannie Lou Hamer, Land has written numerous feature articles about Hamer, as well as an essay for the book, Pieces From The Past: Voices of Heroic Women in Civil Rights (2011) published by Joan H. Sadoff and Tasora Books.

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Joy Davenport, Director

Joy Elaine Davenport is a director, editor, and composer currently based in Chicago, IL. She has worked as a freelancer on every aspect of film production for over a decade. Her mission as a documentary filmmaker is to elevate and empower underrepresented voices. Fannie Lou Hamer's America is her directorial debut.

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The African Diaspora Film Club is presented in partnership with Black Public Media

Black Public Media (BPM), formerly known as National Black Programming Consortium develops, produces, funds, and distributes media content about the African American and global Black experience. Our mission is to commit to a fully realized expression of democracy and we accomplish this by supporting diverse voices through training, education, and investment in visionary content makers.

For 40 years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary, and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of Black stories.