The College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) at UMass Amherst will host a virtual screening of the award-winning documentary, Ashes to Ashes, on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 7:30pm. Following will be a discussion with Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker, a resident of Amherst whose work as an artist and activist are the driving force behind the film, and Evan Lewis, assistant dean for community outreach in HFA.
The film explores the pain and triumph of Winfred Rembert, who, at the time of the film’s making was the only living survivor of an attempted lynching, and chronicles his friendship with Dr. Whitaker, who is on a mission to memorialize the forgotten 4,000 African Americans lynched during the Jim Crow era. Together, their journeys of healing paint a powerful portrait.
Rembert grew up in rural Georgia and worked in the cotton fields during much of his childhood. As a teenager he got involved in the 1960s civil-rights movement and was jailed for fleeing for his life in a stolen car, and nearly lynched. In prison he learned the craft of hand-tooling leather to create the stories of his life.
Dr. Jackson grew up in Waycross, GA and went on to study medicine at Clark Atlanta University, Yale University School of Medicine, and Emory University School of Medicine. Her Ashes to Ashes project was developed to provide hope for a better American future, one in which all people can understand the importance of each other’s American history, empathize with each other’s sacrifices and tragedies, realize the legacy of impacts from suffered injustices and accept that healing is a process.
Dean Lewis is the Founding Executive Director of the Legacy Coalition, a national non-profit organization launched in collaboration with the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University’s School of Law. The Legacy Coalition’s mission is to secure reparative justice for American citizens whose ancestors were lynched in acts of racial terror during the Jim Crow era. His work has been featured by national and international media outlets including CNN, the BBC, National Public Radio and PBS and was chronicled in the award-winning PBS documentary, All the Difference, which earned rave reviews nationally and was heralded by both the US Department of Education and the White House under President Barack Obama.
Directed by Taylor Rees, Ashes to Ashes earned high praise as the “Best Documentary Short” at the 2020 River Run International Film Festival among many others.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.