WILL Press Room
Should We End Black History Month?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Free screening and discussion
6 pm Tuesday, Feb. 7
Champaign Public Library
200 W. Green St.
Should Black History Month be ended? That’s the question explored in More Than a Month by African-American filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman as he embarks on a cross-country campaign to do just that.
Panelists for the Community Cinema discussion are Sandra E. Gibbs, educational consultant, and Janice Mitchell, director of the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center. The film will be shown with closed captions for the hearing impaired and an English sign language interpreter will sign the discussion. For more information, visit willconnect.org/projects/cinema/.
Combining cinema verité, man-on-the-street interviews and inspired dramatizations, the film is a first-person narrative of the filmmaker’s quest to understand the implications of Black History Month.
The film asks the questions: How do we justify teaching American history as somehow separate from African American history? What does it mean that we have a Black History Month? What would it mean if we didn’t?
Tilghman begins his research at home, but finds his parents dismayed when he suggests eliminating Black History Month. He then seeks a deeper understanding of Carter G. Woodson, the creator of Negro History Week, the predecessor to Black History Month.
More Than a Month will air on WILL-TV at 9 pm Friday, Feb. 17.