Banished: How Whites Drove Blacks Out of Town in America examines a hidden side of America's racial history, focusing on examples of primarily white communities rising up to force their African-American neighbors to flee in post-reconstruction America. The incidents took place in Texas, Missouri, Georgia and Indiana between 1886 and 1923. In the documentary filmmaker Marco William follows three African American families who returned to the communities to confront this legacy.
The event will begin at 6;30 p.m. in the John Edson Anglin Performing Arts Center on ECC's campus in Union. Guest speakers Dr. Keon Gilbert, assistant professor of behavioral science and health education at St. Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice, and Murray Bishoff, the editor of The Monett Times in southwest Missouri, will introduce the film.
Gilbert has done extensive research in the For the Sake of All project, which traces the effects of segregation in St. Louis on African Americans' health and well-being. Bishoff has researched and written about the violent expulsion of African Americans in Pierce City. He will bring a large display he has created that documents the events.
ECC's Patron of the Arts program provides financial support for the film and lecture series at the college. For more information contact [email protected] or call 636-584-6643.