Special Event: JUSTICE IS A BLACK WOMAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

Special Screening Event

The Avon Theatre & The Links, Incorporated Present

JUSTICE IS A BLACK WOMAN: 
THE LIFE AND WORK OF 
CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY

Post-film Q&A with filmmaker Dr. Gary Ford Jr.

Tuesday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m.

FREE to the public – while tickets remain at the box office

ABOUT THE FILM: The documentary, Justice Is A Black Woman: The Life And Work Of Constance Baker Motley chronicles the life and work of Motley, an “unsung” hero of the civil rights movement. It is based on interviews and other dissertation research conducted by Dr. Gary Ford, the producer who was determined to give Motley the credit she deserved for her work in the courts that affected the outcome of the movement and facilitated the dismantling of Jim Crow and a segregated society. The film is narrated by Juan Williams. Dr. Maya Angelou read her poem, Still I Rise, for the film which includes President Bill Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Attorney Vernon Jordan, Members of the “Little Rock Nine,” Ms. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and many others.

Motley, the only woman attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund (LDF) during most of the civil rights movement from 1946 - 1964 was the LDF attorney who tried and won most of the important desegregation cases. In addition to writing briefs in Brown v. Board of Education, Motley was trial or appellate counsel in 57 cases in the United States Supreme Court, 82 cases in federal courts of appeals, 48 cases in federal district courts, and numerous cases in state courts. She won cases that ended de jure segregation in white only restaurants and lunch counters, protected the right of protestors to march, sit-in, freedom ride, and demonstrate in other ways, and secured the right for blacks to register, vote, and have access to the political power structure.

The documentary aired on PBS in 2012, won an award as the Best Education Film of the year, won a Telly Award, and won an award for the Best Feature Documentary at the St. Tropez International Film Festival in France on May 18, 2013. It was also nominated for the Outstanding Historical/Cultural Program award at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Boston/New England Chapter on June 1, 2013.
Not Rated | In English | 57 minutes

ABOUT THE FILMAKER: Dr. Gary Ford, Jr. graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Harvard University. He received a J.D. from Columbia University Law School where he was editor of the National Black Law Journal. He received an M.F.A. from New School University and a PhD. from the University of Maryland where he was a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and taught in the African American Studies and Cultures of the Americas Honors Programs. Dr. Ford produced the documentary, Justice Is A Black Woman: The Life and Work of Constance Baker Motley while working as a faculty fellow at Quinnipiac University.

ABOUT THE LINKS, INCORPORATED: The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of 12,000 professional women of color in 276 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.