Shepherd to hold Storer College film day March 14

ISSUED: 16 February 2007
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Shepherd to hold Storer College film day March 14)

Shepherdstown, WV--The Shepherd University Diversity and Equity Committee will show John Brown's Body, a documentary including footage about Storer College on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. in the Frank Center Theater. The film is being shown in honor of Storer College Founders' Day.

The film traces the legacy of the 1859 raid led by John Brown to the founding of Storer College and the 1906 meeting of the Niagara Movement to show the historical significance of Harpers Ferry in the struggle for civil rights in America.

The film includes interviews with a variety of figures including Dr. Richard McKinney, the first (and last) African-American president of Storer College; Dr. Houston Brooks, scientist and Storer College graduate; Shepherd Professor and alumna Dr. Dawne Raines Burke, author of An American Phoenix: A History of Storer College from Slavery to Desegregation, 1865-1955; and Dr. David Levering Lewis, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of W.E.B. Dubois. As well as local leaders of the NAACP and representatives from the National Park Service in Harpers Ferry.

Producer and director Bob Wilkinson has been working on this project for the past two years, beginning with a 2005 documentary that aired on the West Virginia Public Television weekly magazine news show Outlook. The film is about an hour in length and includes a 20-minute history of Storer College in Harpers Ferry. Storer College began after the Civil War as one of the first schools to meet the educational needs of freed slaves. In August 1906, the Niagara Movement held its second conference at Storer College. Led by Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, the Niagara Movement is considered the forerunner of the NAACP.

This presentation is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

-30-HORST

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