UDC PRESENTS INSPIRATIONAL FILM-SCREENING AND DISCUSSION TO ENCOURAGE VOTER PARTICIPATION

UDC PRESENTS INSPIRATIONAL FILM-SCREENING AND DISCUSSION TO ENCOURAGE VOTER PARTICIPATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  John Gordon, Jr., Director of Communications
202.274.5998 (office) or 202.701.8805 (cell) or john.gordon@udc.edu

Click here to download press release.

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Washington, DC – As the nation faces the first Presidential election without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is hosting a film-screening and discussion to encourage voting among people of color, students and other vulnerable citizens. The youth-produced documentary, Well-Behaved Women Don’t Make ‘Her-Story’: The Dorie Ladner Story will debut on Thursday, November 3, 2016 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the UDC Student Center at 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW. The thirty-minute film will be followed by a discussion moderated by UDC President Ronald Mason, Jr., and includes D.C. resident Dorie Ladner, upon whose life the film is based.

A lifelong activist and social worker, Ladner was a key organizer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960’s. Throughout her years of working with SNCC, she served on the front line of the Civil Rights Movement in various capacities, including voter registration. According to the film’s producer, Kendall Little, Ladner’s efforts and those of her student contemporaries offer important life lessons for today’s youth who are questioning whether their vote really matters.
“It’s important that we learn from the elders of the movement to understand the struggles and sacrifices that were made in order for us to enjoy the freedoms that we have today,” says Little, who coordinated the team of Tougaloo College students that made the film. “Our votes matter not only to make our voices heard in the political arena, but to also honor those who paved the way. We must reach across generations and continue the work together.”

President Mason agrees and hopes the program will help to galvanize more eligible voters to cast their ballot.

“The lives of Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Medgar Evers, and countless others who fought or died so that we could proudly and loudly claim our worth as human beings, without fear of recrimination or death, should not have been in vain. We should honor them and invoke their memory by voting as much and as often as the opportunity arises, to continue to ensure that their lives mattered.”
The documentary was produced and supported by the Mississippi Humanities Council. The UDC program is sponsored by the Office of the President and the Office of Student Development and Success. The event is free and open to the public.

See film preview here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwatdxzM25gfME93bE5LSGpfMTQ/view

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The University of the District of Columbia (www.udc.edu) supports a broad mission of education, research and community service across its colleges and schools: the College of Arts and Sciences; the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences; the School of Business and Public Administration; School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the Community College; and the David A. Clarke School of Law. The University has been designated as an 1862 federal land-grant institution and a Historically Black College and University.

The University of the District of Columbia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution. Minorities, women, veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. For a full version of the University’s EO Policy Statement, please visit https://www.udc.edu/equal_opportunity. The University of the District of Columbia is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 267.284.5000.