The Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in Syracuse University's
College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will present the discussion "Murder in
Black and White: Unsolved Civil Rights Murders" with award-winning filmmaker
and producer Keith Beauchamp on Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in Shemin
Auditorium in the Dorothea I. Shaffer Art Building. The discussion, which includes a
documentary screening, is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay
lots.
Beauchamp is the executive producer and director of "Murder in Black and White," a
four-part documentary series designed to examine and help solve Civil Rights
murders from the 1940s and 1950s while aging, long-silent witnesses and perpetrators
might still be alive. Beauchamp worked closely with the FBI, which recommended
the cases, and the information uncovered during the filmmaking process was shared
with the FBI's cold case unit. The series premiered in October 2008 on TV One and
was hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Beauchamp is also the filmmaker behind the award-winning 2005 documentary
"The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," an investigation into the 1955 abduction
and brutal murder of Till, a 14-year-old African American male in Mississippi. Till,
who was from Chicago, was visiting relatives and allegedly whistled at a white
woman in public the day of his murder. The acquittal of the suspects by an all-male,
all-white jury and the suspects' subsequent confession and lack of punishment
outraged many Americans and helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement.
Beauchamp studied criminal justice at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La.,
before deciding to move to New York City to become a filmmaker and address issues
of racial and social injustice. He is the founder of Till Freedom Come Productions, a
company devoted to socially significant projects that can both teach and entertain.
His numerous awards include the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar
Association, the ImageNation Revolution Award and the Freedom of Expression
Award from the National Board of Review. He has been nominated for an Emmy
Award and an NAACP Image Award.
For more information, contact Amos Kiewe, professor in the Department of
Communication and Rhetorical Studies, at (315) 443-5132 or akiewe@syr.edu.
VPA is committed to the education of cultural leaders who will engage and inspire
audiences through performance, visual art, design, scholarship and commentary. The
college provides the tools for self-discovery and risk-taking in an environment that
thrives on critical thought and action. Learn more at http://vpa.syr.edu.
