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.

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.

Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities is March'sfilm. 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

The rich history of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the end of slavery, flourished in the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the course of the nation for over 150 years — yet remains largely unknown. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest documentary from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes to life.  

A haven for Black intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries — and a path of promise toward the American dream — HBCUs have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field while remaining unapologetically Black for more than 150 years. These institutions have nurtured some of the most influential Americans of our time, from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois to Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison to Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker to Spike Lee to Common.  A key driver of Black social, political and economic progress, HBCUs were also a place of unprecedented freedom for African American students and a refuge from the rampant racism that raged outside the campus walls. Tell Them We Are Rising captures this important history to tell the dynamic story of Americans who refused to be denied a higher education and — in their resistance — created a set of institutions that would influence and shape the landscape of the country for centuries to come.

The series continues with:

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.