Emory’s fourth annual Black Film Thursdays series will examine painful passages in American history under the title “Eyewitness: Lynching and Racial Violence in America.” The March 28–May 16 series is being coordinated to complement the upcoming Atlanta exhibition of “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America,” appearing at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic site May 1– Dec. 31.

The series of weekly screenings will feature 11 distinctive and powerful films that center on lynching, the subject of “Without Sanctuary.” The films also draw attention to issues of justice, race and violence, human rights violations and their documentation in America.

Emory is partnering with the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Auburn Avenue Research Library and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum to screen the films. The series is intended to foster dialogue within and across communities, and each film will be followed by a facilitated discussion.

For the past three years, Emory has sponsored the annual African-American film series and presented a variety of cinema genres and themes focused upon race and black experiences in the United States. The series also has brought several award-winning African American filmmakers to Atlanta to share their work and vision.

The Thursday film series dates and titles are:
March 28, 7 p.m., Auburn Avenue Research Library, 101 Auburn Ave.
• Between the World and Me (1995, 5 min., Ian Moore, director)
• A Lynching in Marion (1995, 30 min., Nolan Lehman, director)

• Third Man Alive (1997, 45 min., America’s Black Holocaust Museum)
Facilitator: Natasha Barnes, Emory English assistant professor.
Guest speaker: Winfred Rembert, artist and lynching survivor.

April 4, 6 p.m., 208 White Hall
• Rosewood (1997, 140 min., John Singleton, director)
Guest speakers: Sherrie Dupree and Janie Bradley-Black, historians at the Rosewood Descend-ants’ Heritage Foundation.

April 11
7 p.m., MLK National Historic Site, 450 Auburn Ave.
• Between the World and Me (1995, 5 min., Ian Moore, director)
• 4 Little Girls (1997, 102 min., Spike Lee, director)
Facilitator: Karen Murphy, program associate, “Facing History and Ourselves.”

April 18
7 p.m., 208 White Hall
• Within Our Gates (1919, 79 min., Oscar Micheaux, director)
Facilitator: Miriam Petty, Emory Ph.D. candidate and “Eyewitness” film series producer.

April 25
7 p.m., William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, 1440 Spring St.
• Between the World and Me (1995, 5 min., Ian Moore, director)
• They Won’t Forget (1937, 90 min., Melvyn Leroy, director)
Facilitator: Matthew Bernstein, Emory film studies associate professor.

May 1
2 p.m., MLK National Historic Site
• Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice (1989, 58 min., William Greaves, director)
• Strange Fruit (2002, 57 min., Joel Katz, producer/director)
Facilitator: Clarissa Myrick-Harris, Africana studies professor at Morris Brown College and founding director of the Southern Black Community Oral History Center. Discussion with director Joel Katz, “Without Sanctuary” curator Joseph Jordan and others.

May 9
7 p.m., Auburn Avenue Research Library
• The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971, 88 min., Michael Gray, director)
Facilitator: Akinyele Umoja, African American studies professor, Georgia State University.

May 16
7 p.m., MLK National Historic Site.
The final film in the Eyewitness Series (to be announced) will be presented in collaboration with the IMAGE Film and Video Center’s DREAM (Developing Racial Equality through Arts and Music) Series.

All of the screenings are free and open to the public.

For more information, call 404-712-8768 or send e-mail to witness@listerv.cc.emory.edu.