| February 21st, 2018

Tell Them We Are Rising premiere

By: journeymagazine

By|Brielle Crooms

Directed by filmmaker Stanley Nelson, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities is the first documentary created to explain the impact of HBCUs.

The premiere will air on Independent Lens on WFSU, Monday, February 19, 2018.

Throughout the documentary there are several historians who stated their perspective on what happened in history for each segment as it related to the major forms of education and the evolution that revolved around it.

The following are some of the different subsections that the film included in its premiere.

The New Negro: Discusses the up rise for blacks.

Golden Age: Elaborates on the time that blacks were able to attend school and feel happy and free to learn. There were black teachers to teach the students who attended these black students.

An Audacious Plan: Highlights Thurgood Marshall’s significance and mentoring him graduating from Howard University Law School; George Folmar, student of Oklahoma University had to sit outside the classroom but was able to attend the classes in Oklahoma University. So in the definition of the whites it was still, “separate by equal.”

Freedom: Explains what all the fighting was for and to see what good leaders could become. This segment also shows that singing to getting arrested provided a power. Highlighted song lyric, “I’m going to do what the spirit says do.”

Today: Features some FAMUs graduates, Jessika Ward who elaborates on her experience and how she never experience a black teacher until she attended FAMU; and Calvin Long former musician leader for the Marching 100.

To brand the premiere, there was a screening event held on Friday, January 26th from 7:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. by WFSU Public Media at FAMU’s Lee Hall Auditorium.

Followed by a panel discussion from 8:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m featuring Director Stanley Nelson; Director Nelson’s wife, Marsha; Florida A&M President Larry Robinson; Florida A&M Assistant Professor of History, Reginald Ellis; and moderated by WFSU Public Media News Director, Lynn Hatter. Director Nelson stated, “You can show this film 10 years ago and 10 years from now.

Project Manager of WFSU, David Mullins stated, “This is a powerful film that’s informational and inspirational.”

This documentary provides a thorough timeline of where black education started, how it has evolved, where it currently is and where it is going. Displaying that HBCUs are on a steadfast rise, in the words of President Robinson, “It is important to get them to understand what we are trying to do.”

Tune in on February 19th to view the documentary for yourself.