SCPL is pleased to partner with Santa Cruz Black on their 2024 Santa Cruz Black Film Series to provide additional opportunities to watch and discuss these important films.

B.L.A.C.K. On Screen is a five-documentary film series focusing on the themes behind our acronym BLACK: Building Legacies of Access in Communities of Kinship.

Starting this month through June, screenings will be the 3rd Tuesday at the Resource Center for Nonviolence and the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Capitola Branch Library. Doors open at 6:00, screenings begin at 6:30. Registration/RSVP is not required, but recommended to help us plan. RSVP for the Tuesday screening at the Resource Center for Noviolence HERE. Or register for the Wednesday Capitola screening below.

Whose Streets? is February's film. Watch the trailer here.

Each screening will be followed by a discussion and/or Q&A. Some of the filmmakers will be participating. Stay tuned!

ABOUT THE FILM

When unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and left lying in the street for hours, it marked a breaking point for the residents of the St. Louis area and beyond. Uniting people from the community and across the nation, a movement—propelled by young activists and Ferguson community members—was born. Told by the local residents and activists on the frontlines fighting for justice, equality and an end to police brutality, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising and the movement that followed.

The series continues with:

March 20
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities. Explores the pivotal role historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played over the course of 150 years.

April 17
Against All Odds: The Fight for The Black Middle Class. Acclaimed journalist Bob Herbert asks, "Have Black Americans had a fair shot at the American dream?” He probes the harsh and often brutal discrimination that has made it extremely difficult for African-Americans to establish a middle-class standard of living, while also exploring the often heroic efforts of Black families to pursue the American Dream in the face of unrelenting barriers.

May 22
The Taking of Harris Neck: 80 years of Injustice for the Gullah People. The stunning marshlands of Harris Neck, Georgia have a tragic history. In 1942, the US government took 2687 acres of land inhabited by descendants of freed slaves to build an airbase. The government promised to give the land back after the war. Now 80 years later the community is still fighting to get their land back. The Taking of Harris Neck tells a story of trauma and racism - and the perseverance to overcome against all odds.

June 19
Descendant. Follows descendants of the survivors from the Clotilda, the last ship that carried enslaved Africans to the United States, as they reclaim their story.