This June, the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries will host two free film screenings about past struggles with equality that echo headlines of today.
A Tuesday, June 4 screening of Love Free or Die will mark 21 years since Gene Robinson’s consecration as the first openly gay person to become a bishop in a Christian church. Held at 5:15 p.m. at Cine, the screening is sponsored by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection.
The screening will feature a discussion with director Macky Alston and Robinson, who wore a bullet-proof vest to the consecration ceremony of the Episcopal Church Diocese of New Hampshire and faced death threats during his tenure. The events caused a split in the Episcopal Church similar to the fracturing of the United Methodist Church occurring today.
A week later, the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies will host a free film screening focused on how the advent of Medicare helped to advance the debate of health care as a human right. The hour-long public television documentary entitled Power to Heal discusses the movement to provide equal and adequate access to healthcare and to desegregate U.S. hospitals during the Civil Rights Movement.
The Power to Heal screening is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11 at the UGA Special Collections Building. As part of the event, visitors are encouraged to visit the new exhibit For All the People, on display in the Russell gallery. The exhibit, produced by the National Library of Medicine, explores citizen activism related to health care reform over the past century.
To learn more about the exhibit and events hosted by the three units of the UGA Special Collections Libraries, visit libs.uga.edu/scl.