An event in the framework of Shaping the Past
We invite you to join us for a conversation about “Memory Culture in Film: Commemorating Emmett Till” between Shaping the Past-Fellow and Executive Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center
Patrick Weems and
Keith Beauchamp, director of the documentary
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005).
The conversation will touch on how history can be shaped through film, and how film can serve as a medium of activism. Our speakers will reflect on the memory of Emmett Till, a 14-year old African American boy who became a victim of a brutal lynching in Mississippi in 1955. Beauchamp and Weems will also explore how the narrative around Till’s memory has changed, and how their work continues to seek justice for Till through the shaping of public memory.
The conversation will be followed by a Q&A between the speakers and the audience. Leading up to this event, we therefore invite you to join us for an online screening of the documentary
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till by Keith Beauchamp, available to stream from November 27-29. In light of the Q&A, the film will give attendees an opportunity to better understand Till’s life, his horrific death, and how his legacy shapes the present. The film is presented as part of
Shaping the Past-on-Demand.
About the speakers:
Patrick Weems co-founded and serves as director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi, which uses art and storytelling to share the Emmett Till tragedy and facilitate racial healing. A graduate of the University of Mississippi, Weems holds a Master’s degree from the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. He was recently awarded a Fellowship from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and is Monument Lab 2020 Fellow in the project
Shaping the Past.
Keith Beauchamp attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he studied criminal justice. In 1999, Beauchamp founded Till Freedom Come Productions, a company devoted to socially significant projects that can both teach and entertain. He has devoted the past 22 years of his life telling the story of Emmett Till and has traveled extensively between New York, Chicago, and Mississippi to investigate the historic murder. During his travels, he became friends with Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till. Beauchamp is currently the executive producer and host of Investigation Discovery’s crime reality series,
The Injustice Files and the producer of the upcoming feature film
Till. He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities around the country.
This event takes place on December 3rd, at 5:00 pm CST on Zoom. Registration is required—please use the link below to register.
Registration
Shaping the Past is a partnership of the Goethe-Institut, Monument Lab, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education). The project connects to the activist and artistic work of local, national, and transnational movements as a reflection of memory culture and discusses new perspectives on forms of memory.
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