New Orleans: In the culmination of a multi-year project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the Amistad Research Center is excited to announce the digitization of the Ed Pincus Film Collection. The initiative is the largest film digitization project in ARC’s history, providing access to more than 85 hours of previously unreleased material tracking Southern civil rights organizing, voter registration, and white supremacist violence in the late 1960s. In celebration of its release, the Amistad Research Center is sponsoring, “Unseen Natchez: 1960s Community Activism, Films from the Ed Pincus Collection at the Amistad Research Center,” an in-depth exploration of the civil rights era footage featuring expert panelists and video highlights with Darrell White, Brad Lichtenstein, Yoruba Richen and Richard Grant.

The program will air at 6:00 PM (CST), Thursday, December 9, 2021 with a virtual live audience Q&A at 7 PM. The program is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Register for the Zoom link here.

About the collaborating institution and speakers:

The Amistad Research Center is a repository of culturally significant historical collections and opens its archives to all to learn about the fundamental underpinnings that make the diaspora and our country’s complex, rich and beautiful ethnic tapestry. Darrell White, of Natchez, MS, is the past Director of Cultural Heritage Tourism for the City of Natchez, as well as Director of the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture. He is widely recognized as an authority in African-American history in the Natchez region, and has contributed to many publications, pamphlets, re-enactments and programs about African-Americans. Brad Lichtenstein is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making documentaries since 1998 and founded 371 Productions in 2003. He’s been nominated for two Emmys: one Sports Emmy for the VR film, Ashe '68, which premiered at Sundance in 2019 and a News and Documentary Emmy for the 2012 Independent Lens/PBS film, As Goes Janesville. Yoruba Richen is an award –winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on PBS, The New York Times, Frontline Digital, New York Magazine’s website -The Cut, The Atlantic and Field of Vision. Her latest films, The Killing of Breonna Taylor premiered on FX and Hulu and The Sit In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show premiered on MSNBC and is streaming on Peacock. Richard Grant is an author and journalist currently living in Tucson, Arizona and writing for Smithsonian magazine. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller, The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi.

About the funder:

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) forges strategies to enhance research, teaching and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions and communities of higher learning. CLIR fosters collaboration by investing in cross-disciplinary intellectual leadership, strategic programs, and professional development opportunities.