Could you get on the bus?  In 1961, a group of  people, both black and white, decided to travel through the segregated South on a Greyhound bus challenging Jim Crow laws prohibiting racial mixing.  Their radical strategy?  Walk through the door of a “white’s-only” establishment and sit together.

Their fearless idealism and commitment to non-violence in the face of arrests, brutal mobs, and attempted murder challenged America to see the inhumanity of segregation and pushed the Civil Rights Movement to the forefront of national conversation.

On Tuesday, April 22^nd at 7:00 p.m., join our conversation about the Civil Rights at the screening of the PBS documentary, The Freedom Riders.  Before the film, Barbara Lackey (Horace Mann HS-LittleRock ’60, ATU ’68) and Dr. V. Carole Smith (Russellville HS ’65), will also discuss their life experiences in the River Valley and beyond.

Even if you can’t stay for the film, you won’t want to miss opening panel discussion for a once in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear history from the people who lived through it right here in the River Valley.  There will be a short break after the discussion before the movie begins.  You can also find the film at the library or online for viewing at home.

The film is the last of our Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle series produced in partnership with the National Endowment for Humanities and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, created to encourage public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in America.

For more information about this film, the panel discussion, or the Civil Rights Movement, give us a ring at 479-964-0569 or send us an email at askalibrarian@atu.edu.

Imagine living in a time when it was considered illegal to marry the person you loved.  Imagine knowing that your wedding ceremony could be followed by a trial, conviction, and imprisonment for the simple act of tying the knot.   Sixty years ago, Richard and Mildred Loving changed history when they said “I do” in defiance of the law against inter-racial marriage and faced prosecution and jail-time in a state penitentiary, culminating in the landmark Supreme Court Case, Loving v. Virginia.

Join us this Thursday, April 10^th, for the screening of the documentary film, The Loving Story, at 7:00 p.m. in Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, room 300 south.  Following the film, Dr. James Moses, professor of history at Arkansas Tech University, will lead a discussion about this pivotal Supreme Court decision.  Admission is free and open to the public.

This film is presented as part of the Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle series, which represents a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities to mark the 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.  The Loving Story represents the third part of a four-film series documenting the Civil Rights struggle in America, ending with the screening of The Freedom Riders on April 22nd at 7:00 p.m.

If you can’t make it to Thursday’s event, never fear—you can always come by the library and check out the film for home viewing.

For more information about this film or the film series, give us a call at 479-964-0569 or email us at askalibrarian@atu.edu.

On Tuesday, March 18^th, at 7:00 P.M. in RPL room 300, join us for a screening of the PBS documentary, Slavery by Another Name.

Based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Douglas Blackmon, this documentary explores the period from the end of the Civil War until World War II, when tens of thousands of African Americans in the South were incarcerated, often arbitrarily, from laws enacted specifically to intimidate blacks.  As prisoners, they were then sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations. Thousands of other African Americans were simply seized and compelled into years of involuntary servitude.

Immediately following the movie, Dr. Pete Dykema, professor of history at ATU, will lead a discussion of this overlooked and sinister history of the American South.  The film and lecture are free and open to the public.

If you can’t make it to the movie, you can always check out the film from the Library, or watch online through PBS.org.  For more information about this film or the screening, contact us at 479-964-0569 or askalibrarian@atu.edu.

During the next few weeks, the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center at Arkansas Tech University will host a film series entitled “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle,” featuring films and lectures about the beginnings, struggles, and triumphs of the Civil Rights movement in America.

“Created Equal” is part of the Bridging Cultures Initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities, produced in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to encourage public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in America.

Below is the full schedule and listing for the films in the series:

“The Abolitionists,”
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2:30 p.m.
Discussion led by Dr. Jeff Pearson, Assistant Professor of History.

“Slavery By Another Name,”
Tuesday, March 18, 2:30 p.m.
Discussion led by Dr. Pete Dykema, Professor of History.

“The Loving Story,”
Tuesday, April 8, 2:30 p.m.
Discussion led by Dr. James Moses, Professor of History.

“Freedom Riders,”
Tuesday, April 22, 2:30 p.m.
Followed by a panel discussion with Dr. V. Carole Smith, Associate Professor of Middle Level Education, and other invited panelists.

Each film screening will take place in Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, third floor, room 300 and will include a lecture or discussion to follow.  Admission to all screenings in the “Created Equal” series will be free and open to the public.

If you can’t make it to the screenings, a copy of each film is also available for check-out from the library.  Simply search for the film titles in our online catalog, or click this link for a complete list.  You can also learn more about each film through our special research guide containing summaries, teaching guides, transcripts, and video.

For more information about this film series, Civil Rights, or anything research-related, give us a ring at 479-964-0569 or email us at askalibrarian@atu.edu.

If living in close proximity to a nuclear power plant has made you paranoid of atomic, mutated arthropods, you won’t want to miss Mike Bogue’s presentation entitled, “Atom Age Apocalypse: Mutants, Monsters, and Mushroom Clouds.”

The presentation will be on November 21^st, in Ross Pendergraft Library, Room 300 at 7:00 P.M.

Mike, an alumnus of Arkansas Tech University, will present a tribute to the 1950’s science fiction movies that inspired the works of such film-making giants as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Mike worked on the Russellville Campus of Arkansas Tech University from 1993 to 2011, and is currently Coordinator of Student Success on the Ozark Campus.  His work has appeared in Scary Monsters Magazine, G-FAN, Castle of Frankenstein, Wonder, Space & Time, The Lookout, and Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs. the World.  He also recently published a book titled Atomic Drive-In (also available at the Library).

If you want to start preparing for the lecture (or the apocalypse / giant reptile attack), the Music Lab at Ross Pendergraft Library has a selection of 1950’s science fiction movies waiting to grab you:

• The Thing from another world

• Forbidden planet

• The Blob

• Them!

• Plan 9 from outer space

• War of the Worlds (1953)

Or, if you want to view in bulk, the Sci-Fi Classics collection features 50 classic, science fiction movies on 12 discs.

For more information about the presentation or our film collection, contact the atomic librarians from outer space at askalibrarian@atu.edu or 479-964-0569.