Almost 51 years ago, a pivotal civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
This Sunday, the Harn Museum of Art will present a documentary about how Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy has led to the Black Lives Matter movement.
An hour-long documentary, “Once More at the River: From MLK to BLM,” which compares the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter movement, will be shown from 3-4:45 p.m., said Roxane Coche, one of the filmmakers and a UF telecommunication assistant professor.
Although the anniversary of the assassination is April 4, the documentary was finished in 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary, Coche said.
University of Memphis undergraduate students made the documentary as a class project, Coche said. It cost more than $30,000 to create.
It consists of interviews of more than 20 Memphis-based activists who talk about their experiences since King’s assassination, Coche said.
“Memphis is a good example of the work that has been done toward the betterment of race relations but also the work that remains to be done,” Coche said.
About 70 to 100 people are expected to attend the free event, said Eric Segal, the museum’s director of education and curator of academic programs.
After the video, there will be a public conversation with University of Memphis student Caleb Suggs, who helped create the film, Segal said.
The event will occur in conjunction with an exhibition of Civil Rights photographs called “I, Too, Am America,” also displayed in the Harn, Segal said.
“It is a film that features voices of people who are affected by social injustice,” Segal said. “What’s going on in Memphis that is featured in this film is very relevant to Gainesville.”
