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.