“Till,” a biopic on Mamie Till’s fight for justice for the 1955 murder of her son, Emmett Till, was screened at the Colonial Showroom in downtown Keene Feb. 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Keene State’s associate vice president of the Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Dr. Dottie Morris and guest speaker Harvey Keye, a former New Hampshire state rep. who played a major role in the state’s acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The film deals with the murder of Emmett Till and the life of activism that his mother, Mamie, led in response. Morris said it is important to view films with harsh subject matter. “The reason I think it’s important to look at these types of films…is to help us figure out what’s going on now and into the future,” Morris said.
“Emmett Till’s mother said to her aunt, ‘We have to look’…I think that there are things that we don’t want to look at…if we look at them together within community with love and care for one another we’re able to grow and develop from just taking that look,” Morris said.
Morris’s decision to screen this film, in particular, stems from the lack of access people north of Massachusetts have to it.
“As I was thinking about seeing the film myself, I noticed that it was not being screened anywhere north of Greenfield, Massachusetts,” Morris said. “We started a conversation in the Keene Human Rights Committee…reached out to Vicki Pittman, the educational director at the Colonial, and started the wheels rolling with this film.”
The conversation that followed the film’s screening was led by Morris and Keye.
“The reason I picked…Mr. Keye…is because of the historical significance of who he is for the state of New Hampshire. He was a legislator, and it was due to his hard work and…relentless work to have Martin Luther King Day acknowledged in the state of New Hampshire….New Hampshire was the 50th state to acknowledge Martin Luther King Day as an official holiday…because of his historical significance…and because of his personal experiences as a young man,” Morris said.
Keye is 82-years-old and grew up in Alabama. Throughout the Q&A, he shared stories of his own life and answered any questions the audience had.
Morris described how to have conversations regarding controversial subject matter as “coming up with really clear guidelines about how we’re planning to engage with each other by setting the stage…having a conversation…is beneficial to all of us…especially to be able to have a space where we can express ourselves.”
Additionally, Morris mentioned there are many stories of people of African descent that are not as well known.
“Some people do know about [Fannie Lou Hamer], but I don’t think that enough people understand the gravity of her involvement in voter registration,” Morris said. In addition to “Till,” there will be five more films screened in Rhodes Hall s203 throughout the semester as part of the Civil Rights and Human Rights Series presented by the KSC Cultural Center.
Benjamin Martins can be contacted at
bmartins@kscequinox.com
