The Peru Gazette

 Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and Black History Month, four Plattsburgh-area institutions are joining forces to present four documentaries with riveting footage illustrating the history of civil rights in America.

Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle, is being co-sponsored by the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, the Clinton Essex Franklin Library System and the Plattsburgh Public Library.  A grant to the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System from the National Endowment for the Humanities will fund the five-part film series, featuring community discussions after each movie, beginning Feb. 1.

All films and community discussions are free and open to the public.  They will be held Saturdays at 1 p.m. at the Public Library, 19 Oak St.

Saturday, Feb. 1

 “The Abolitionists.”  Part One.Synopsis:  A small group of reformers in the 1830s launched one of the most ambitious social movements imaginable: the immediate emancipation of millions of enslaved African Americans.

Discussion leader:  Dr. J.W. Wiley, Director of the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion at Plattsburgh State University, writer and commentator.

Saturday, Feb. 8
“The Abolitionists.”  Part Two.
Synopsis: A small group of reformers in the 1830s launched one of the most ambitious social movements imaginable: the immediate emancipation of millions of enslaved African Americans.
Discussion Leader: Dr. J.W. Wiley (see above)

Saturday, Feb. 15
“Freedom Riders.”
Synopsis: An inside look at a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights struggle, when a brave band of activists challenged segregation in the Deep South.

Discussion Leader:  Jackie Madison, President of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association.

Saturday, Feb. 22
“Slavery By Another Name.”
Synopsis: Even after slavery was legally abolished, new forms of forced labor kept thousands of African Americans in bondage until the onset of World War II.
Discussion Leader: J.W. Wiley (see above)

Saturday, March 1

 “The Loving Story”
Film Synopsis: Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in 1958 for violating Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage. Their struggle culminated in a landmark Supreme Court decision overturning that ban.
Discussion Leaders:  Robin Caudell, reporter, Plattsburgh Press Republican, who has written about the Loving story and other interracial marriages in this area.  Portia Allie-Turco, professor of psychology at Plattsburgh State University, originally from South Africa, where she and her husband wed in an interracial marriage shortly after the end of apartheid.

For more information about attending the series:

–call the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System at 563-5190; email: wever@cefls.org or ugr@frontier.com.

–www.northcountryundergroundrailroad.com