Athena Cinema honors Black History Month through multiple screenings

The Athena Cinema will screen three films in celebration of Black History Month, starting tonight, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. with “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.” All screenings are free and open to the public. After-screening events will follow all three films, with a discussion following tonight’s screening.

Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, in “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America,” criminal defense/civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.

The screening is sponsored by the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, the Center for Law, Justice and Culture, the Central Region Humanities Center, the Cutler Scholars Program, Ohio University’s history department, the Honors Tutorial College, the Multicultural Center, and the Ohio Honors Program.

The Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society and local filmmaker Liz Pahl will also showcase two films in celebration of Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. The evening will feature the premiere of “Athens Black Wall Street (Episode 1),” a project of the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, followed by the documentary, “Legacy: Women of Southeast Ohio,” by Pahl.

The “Athens Black Wall Street (Episode 1)” project was developed in association with Bent Street Films and Hyfocal Multimedia. It focuses on the incredible triumphs of Black business owners in Athens County in the late 1880s and early 1900s. The series chronicles the destruction of Athens Black Historical structures and depicts community efforts to halt the erasure of its last standing cultural icon.

Pahl’s “Legacy: Women of Southeast Ohio” honors the incredible accomplishments of four Southeastern Ohio women who have dedicated their lives to community action, activism, teaching and social justice. The selections to be screened highlight the lives and works of Ada Woodson Adams and Dr. Francine Childs, two Black matriarchs living in the Athens area.   

A reception at Ohio University’s School of Film, 31 S. Court Street, Athens, will follow Saturday’s screenings.