SMC Celebrates Black History Month

Public Invited to Attend Free Talks, Film Screenings, and Discussions

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica College (SMC) will present three free events in February honoring Black History Month. The informative talks, film screenings, and discussions are all held on the main SMC campus at 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.

SMC’s Black History Month events are:

• Thursday, February 20 — “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am: Film Screening and Q&A with Wil Doucet and Bridgette Robinson” at 11:15 a.m. in SMC Student Services Center, Orientation Hall (S183). Poets Wil Doucet and Bridgette Robinson present Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. The critically praised Timothy Green-Sanders documentary on the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature traces her arc from childhood in a small town in Ohio to the heights of literary success and international acclaim in New York and Stockholm. The event is sponsored by the SMC Associates and SMC’s Black Collegians Program. Additional sponsors: SMC English Department, SMC Sociology Department, and SMC Film Studies Program.

• Wednesday, February 26 — “AND iDANCED: Film Screening and Q&A with Christopher “Play” Martin, Moderated by Timothy Conley,” at 2:30 p.m. in SMC Student Services Center, Orientation Hall (S183). SMC film and media studies instructor Timothy Conley joins award-winning film director, actor, and Kid N Play member Christopher “Play” Martin to present AND iDANCED, a documentary on the women and men who danced, helped create unforgettable performance presentations for 80s-90s rappers and singers, and contributed to making Hip Hop a global phenomenon. Part of the SMC Communication, Media & Design Series. The event is sponsored by the SMC Associates and SMC’s Black Collegians Program. Additional sponsors: SMC Communication and Media Studies Department and SMC Design Technology Department.

• Thursday, February 27 — “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality: Film Screening and Discussion” at 11:15 a.m. in Stromberg Hall (HSS 165). SMC faculty and justice reform advocates present the HBO documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality. Stevenson is the Alabama attorney whose life is the basis for the film Just Mercy. As founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, he continues his decades-long effort to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Stevenson and his staff have won reversals, relief, or release from prison for more than 135 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row. Part of the Communication, Media & Design Series. The event is sponsored by the SMC Associates and SMC’s Black Collegians Program.Additional sponsors: SMC Public Policy Institute, SMC Communication and Media Studies Department, SMC’s Law Pathway Program, and SMC Design Technology Department.

More information is available by calling SMC’s Office of Public Programs at 310-434-4100.

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