Langston Hughes Center to screen 'Selma,' offer panel discussion

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas professors, including filmmaker Kevin Willmott, will discuss the movie "Selma" after a Langston Hughes Center screening later this month.

Willmott, professor of film and media studies, will participate on the panel with Elizabeth Esch, assistant professor of American studies, and Melissa Foree, Department of African and African-American Studies, where they will talk about the film that depicts the iconic civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. March 25 at 3140 Wescoe Hall. KU's Langston Hughes Center, Department of African and African-American Studies, Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of First-Year Experience, KU Libraries and Office of Diversity and Equity are co-sponsors.

“The Selma campaign is a transformative juncture in the modern civil rights movement,” said Shawn Leigh Alexander, associate professor of African and African-American studies and director of the Langston Hughes Center. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to show the film that so vividly captures that violent yet triumphant moment in the struggle for black civil and political rights in America."

The event is free and open to the public with a printed ticket from EventBrite. While supplies last, tickets are available via langstonhughes.ku.edu.

"The screening of the film and the accompanying panel discussion will be a wonderful opportunity to encourage a public conversation about the changing meanings of freedom in our national consciousness and the continued struggle for social and political equality in America,” Alexander said.