The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
/Monday, January 10th, 7:00pm
DocWatchers
Curated by Hellura Lyle
The Jena 6,
Big Noise, 2008, 28 min.
In a small town in Louisiana, six families are fighting for their sons lives. Two nooses are left as a warning to black students trying to integrate their playground, fights break out across town, a white man pulls a shotgun on black students, someone burns down most of the school, the DA puts six black students on trial for attempted murder, and the quiet town of Jena becomes the site of the largest civil rights demonstration in the South since the 1960s. The Jena 6 is a powerful symbol for, and example of, how racial justice works in America where the lynching noose has been replaced by the DA's pen.
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
Woodie King, Jr., 1980, 52 min.
In 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned them the nickname "The Harlem Six." Intent on protecting and clearing the names of their sons, several mothers bonded together to make their story known. This work emerges as a powerful close up of police brutality, and of power dynamics of 1960's Harlem.
Director Woodie King Jr. will be present for post-screening Q&A
