Filmmaker and historian Judy Richardson will give two free public presentations at Ithaca College on Thursday, April 8. At 4 p.m. in Textor 101 she will screen and answers questions about her newest film, “Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968.” At 7 p.m. in Textor 102 she will deliver the History Department's annual Marjorie Fortunoff Mayrock Lecture, “From ‘Eyes on the Prize’ to ‘Scarred Justice’: Interpreting the Civil Rights Movement through Film.”
Richardson brings to her filmmaking a longtime involvement with social justice issues, beginning with her work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the South during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964. In 1968 she and a number of former SNCC workers organized Drum & Spear Bookstore in Washington, D.C., which soon became the largest African-American bookstore in the country. In the 1970s she was involved in several independent projects, including directing a study of racism in children’s books for the Howard University School of Education.
In 1979 Richardson began working with Henry Hampton/Blackside Productions, conducting research and pre-interviews on an early version of what became “Eyes on the Prize,” the six-part PBS series on the history of the Civil Rights Movement. She served as associate producer for the subsequent eight-hour series “Eyes on the Prize II” and coproduced Blackside’s 1994 Emmy and Peabody Award–winning documentary “Malcolm X: Make It Plain.”
Currently a senior producer for Northern Light Productions, Richardson makes documentaries for broadcast and museums, with a focus on African-American historical events. “Scarred Justice,” which aired on PBS in February, tells the little-known story of three black students who were killed by police during a 1968 demonstration at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg. In addition to her film work, she has authored numerous academic articles and lectures nationally about the Civil Rights Movement — its history, values and relevance to issues we face today.
Richardson’s talk is sponsored by the Marjorie Fortunoff Mayrock Lecture Series in History, which is funded by Elliot Mayrock ’73 in memory of his mother.
Links
Marjorie Fortunoff Mayrock Lecture
https://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/history/mayrocklecture/
Henry Hampton/Blackside Productions
http://blacksidemedia.com/content/view/6/31/
Northern Light Productions
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20100405111821676