"Tell
Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities"
Premiered at UVI
As the
University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) was already in the mode of Black History
Month celebration, the Pre-Screening of Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of
Black Colleges and Universities hosted on both campuses on Monday, Feb. 19, was
well received.
The 90-minute film drew large
audiences including students, faculty and staff of the University, as well as
members of the general public to both the Administration and Conference Center
(ACC) Building on the St. Thomas Campus and in the Great Hall on the Albert A.
Sheen Campus on St. Croix. Many of whom were eager to view the film before it
aired nationally on the acclaimed PBS series, Independent Lens later the
evening at 8:30 p.m.
The
pre-screening event was a part of a tour organized by HBCU Rising, the
year-long multi-platform engagement project designed to drive dialogue sparked
by the film among a variety of audiences. The film examines the impact HBCUs
have had on American history, culture and national identity for more than 150
years.
The event was hailed as one of the
best events the University has hosted to date by President David Hall. “This is
something that speaks to what we are going through right now. Our theme coming
out of the hurricanes has been “UVI RISE,” and this film is about how HBCU’s
rise above all the negative forces that get in the way,” Hall said. “This is
really a nice marriage between our reality and the HBCU journey.”
The President said that he was particularly pleased with comments made by the students after the film. “It was clear
that it spoke to them in the way that I had envisioned, which is that it would
inspire them to work harder and appreciate that they are a part of something
even greater than what they might imagine,” he said.
Directed by award-winning
documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of
Black Colleges and Universities was praised by members of the audience for
revealing for the first time the complex history of how HBCUs, havens for Black
intellectuals, artists and trailblazers, offered a path of promise toward the
American dream, educated the architects of freedom movements throughout the
decades and cultivated leaders in every field.
The
pre-screening event was a collaborative effort of UVI and WTJX.
Tell
Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities is the second
in a three-part series called America Revisited that includes The Black
Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, which broke Nielsen ratings and social
media engagement records for Independent Lens, and the forthcoming, The Slave
Trade: Creating A New World.
Independent
Lens is an Emmy Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS Monday nights at
10:00pm. The acclaimed series, with Lois Vossen as executive producer, features
documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and
unflinching visions of independent filmmakers.
