Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2007-11-06

A new documentary on the lives of five women who were active in Civil Rights efforts in Alabama during the 1960s will be shown at Samford University Monday, Nov. 12.

The public is invited to view the premiere of "Lives of Courage, Voices of Hope: Women Seeking Freedom and Justice in a World of Black and White," at 4:30 p.m. in Brock Forum, located in Dwight Beeson Hall.

According to executive producer Dr. Hugh Floyd, the film was made "to give voice to women and their role in the civil rights movement and their commitment to human rights."

Floyd is chair of the Samford sociology department.

The women featured are: Carolyn McKinstry, who was a young girl in Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church the Sunday morning a bomb blast took the lives of her friends; Joanne Bland and her sister Linda Lowery, who grew up in Selma and as young black girls participated in voters' rights marches, including bloody Sunday and the March to Montgomery; and Peggy Rupp and Eileen Walbert, who as young adult white women marched with Concerned White Citizens of Alabama in support of voters' rights in Selma and were also involved in the movement in Birmingham.

The women will participate in a panel discussion at the end of the 50-minute film. Dr. Floyd will moderate the discussion.

The making of the film, which took three years, was supported by Samford in Mission, a grant initiative funded by the Lilly Foundation.

Floyd plans to enter the film in national and international film festivals. Penny Marler and John McIntosh are co-producers.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.