Black History Month Event
Thank you to all who joined us for our first Black History Month Event in collaboration with our partners at ASLAH and supporting partner Johnson House Historic Site. We had a wonderful turnout both in-person and via Zoom. Our Member’s films alternating between the Educator’s presentations around Afrofuturism was a joyful and liberating blend.
Video Excerpts from the Event/Presentation
ORIGINAL POST:
Community Program Presented by:
ASALH PhilaMontco Branch and
SIFTMedia 215 Collective
Co-Sponsored by:
Johnson House Historic Site and
ASALH Philadelphia Heritage Branch
Date: Sunday, February 25, 2024
Time: 3:00pm to 5:00pm EST
Place: Germantown Mennonite Church
21 West Washington Lane
Hybrid Event: Also Streaming Virtually
Cost: FREE Event with Registration | Light Refreshments
PURPOSE: this workshop is to celebrate and inform families, community members and educators on the art of teaching the genre of Afrofuturism. The workshop experience will help you gain a foundation on the theory and history of Afrofuturism, we will explore strategies for teaching youth (and adults) the importance of dreaming or seeing their identity in the future as means to resist and celebrate joy through the creation and curation of their own Afrofuturistic art whether literature, visual, or performing.
PROGRAM: the workshop will alternate between three Educators from the Philadelphia Public School System explaining the ethos behind including AfroFuturism in education | And four short films by members of SIFTMedia 215 Collective that feature visions of African Americans past, present and across the Diaspora.
EDUCATORS: Karen Marie Williams, Shaquita A. Smith and Dr. Angela Crawford (bios below) will give an overview of the history and philosophy behind the AfroFuturist Movement.
FILMS:
MEMORIES FROM THE FUTURE
Director/Writer M. Asli Dukan /2019/ 6 min
A futuristic traveler escapes to the past to witness and interrogate the realities of a city’s urban housing and development policies. Using footage from “A Place to Live” (1941), the Philadelphia Housing Authority funded and Academy Award nominated propaganda film, “Memories from the Future” interweaves the narratives of both future-themed films. Performer: Jennifer Kidwell.
M. Asli Dukan is a filmmaker who works primarily in the genres of speculative fiction as a subversive, radical and liberatory practice. She has screened at festivals in the U.S., Canada, and on the Black-owned streaming service, KweliTV. She has been the recipient of several grants, awards and fellowships, including a 2020 Sundance Institute Knight Alumni grant. In 2022, she completed Sundown Road, a short film about the residue of racial discrimination, intimidation and violence in the U.S. She is in development on the feature film, Skin Folk, based on the book by the award-winning Caribbean writer, Nalo Hopkinson.
More About The Filmmaker
AND THEY JUMPED INTO THE WATER….SOME
Director/Writer Lois Moses /2015/ 9 min.
While trekking through “The Middle Passage”, enslaved Africans are confronted with a perplexing choice, demonstrating some freedoms require great sacrifice.
Performer: Bryce Payne.
Lois Moses, M.F.A., J.D., M.A., is an Actress, Poet, Clinician, Filmmaker, Director, and Playwright. She earned her Master’s in Fine arts in Acting at UCLA. She is an award-winning filmmaker for her short film titled, “And They Jumped into the Water…Some” which premiered at Optik Illusion, Films to the People Festival and Scribe Video’s Street Movies. Lois’ acclaimed Play, “Say That He Had More Than a Dream” debuted at First World Theatre in Philadelphia, PA on September 30, 2016, and toured at the Match Theatre in Houston August 2017, and was nominated by Broadway World.com for Best New Work in 2016. (This piece, in pertinent part, chronicles the last years of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life after his controversial “Beyond Vietnam” Speech at Riverside Church, in April 1967).
More About The Filmmaker
RETURN TO …
Director/Writer Eboni Zamani /2020/ 5 min.
The passing of her Great-grandmother has left many unanswered questions for Eboni, mainly ones around identity. She begins to explore who and where she comes from.
Eboni Zamani is a filmmaker, photographer and writer hailing from Philadelphia. She received her B.A. from Pace University in Film & Screen Studies and African American Studies. Eboni was most recently on crew for HBO’s Mare of Easttown. Her work with EZ Exposures (her boutique photo booth company) landed her a spot in Cohort #3 of Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women Initiative. She recently coordinated and filmed a segment for South Africa’s Libraries Matter campaign. She is currently working on an interactive project as a Black Public Media Immersive Fellow.
More About The Filmmaker
EDUCATORS TO AFRICA / ETA 50
Marlene & Nadine Patterson /2023/ 10 min.
Educators to Africa [ETA] is a common interest organization that was formed after a unique six-week study tour to four West African countries in 1972. Our documentary highlights the experiences of Philadelphia Public School Educators, Ted and Elsie Erwin, who have traveled to dozens of African countries and shared their knowledge in classrooms, churches, and community organizations for over 50 years. Extended Play received a grant from Independence Public Media Foundation to work with editor Stephen Schaffer to create this historic archive of the group. Additional production support was provided by SIFTMedia 215 Collective.
Marlene G. Patterson and Nadine M. Patterson have been making films together since 1989. Their films include Anna Russell Jones: Praisesong for a Pioneering Spirit; Moving with the Dreaming; and Tango Macbeth. They co-curated the Delta Film Fest from 1992 to 2002, which was a bi-annual screening and discussion series of socially conscious films from the African Diaspora including Cuba, The United States, Senegal, Ghana, and Martinique. Marlene Patterson was a member of ETA and a longtime member of ASALH. Nadine Patterson joined ASALH in 2021.
More About The Filmmakers
Karen Marie Williams, ASALH President of the PhilaMontco Branch
Regina Vaughn, ASALH President Philadelphia Heritage Branch
ASALH 2024 BLACK HISTORY THEME: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE ARTS
Karen Marie Williams, President ASALH PMB, Assistant Principal School District of Philadelphia. She currently co-leads James R. Lowell Elementary School where she serves as the school’s equity champion and community outreach coordinator . Her credentials include a B.A in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, Arcadia University 2001; a M.S in Educational Leadership from Scranton University 2012; and a graduate certificate in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment from Rosemont College 2004.
Highlights from her career include co-facilitation of school wide professional development for the Africana Series, presenting workshops – Infusing Africana Studies in Elementary Education, Black Joy & Afrofuturism, Women’s Liberation through Afrofuturism, Ancestral Healing of Black Women Teachers: Spirit Work. She’s a proud Spring’ 23 initiate of the Philadelphia Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
Dr. Angela Crawford, Ed. D., a dedicated member of ASALH and the Black Women Educational Association, serves on the board of the Philadelphia Writing Project and is a PhilWP Teacher Consultant. Angela holds the position of Assistant Principal at Martin Luther King High School and is an Educational Consultant. Beyond her roles in education, she is a certified Holistic Health Practitioner with expertise in multimodalities. Angela’s pedagogical philosophy revolves around engagement, empowerment, and liberation, focusing on uplifting the voices of the silent and unseen. Through her lens, she offers professional learning opportunities in culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, guiding educators and school leaders. Angela, or Angie as she is affectionately known, is a married mother of three grown children, and she passionately embraces life through continuous learning, reading, travel, community engagement, and service to others.
Shaquita A. Smith is a dedicated educator committed to prioritizing the needs of students and teachers. Previously a classroom teacher, she now focuses on designing curriculum and educational experiences that authentically and unapologetically highlight the narratives of black and brown people, with a particular emphasis on the stories of women. Shaquita firmly believes in the liberating power of education, especially when it involves critical analysis of history, literature, institutions, society, and individual experiences.
Cornelia Swinson, Executive Director
Johnson House Historic Site, A Center for Social Advocacy – Our mission at Johnson House Historic Site is to stand as a beacon of change and inspiration. Rooted in our history as an Underground Railroad stop and historic house museum, we proudly represent the enduring impact of everyday people who have made a difference in their communities and beyond. The partnership between Africans seeking freedom and the Johnson family, passionate abolitionists, serves as a powerful catalyst to inspire, uplift, and empower current and future generations.
Nadine Patterson, Managing Director | Nikki Harmon, Program Manager
SIFTMedia 215 Collective is a cooperative that centers Black and Latinx women-identified independent media artists who work in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As filmmakers, we seek to educate ourselves and the wider community by creating socially conscious, culturally relevant work that challenges mainstream narratives and structures. Our mission is to use our collective strength to amplify the work of and create meaningful opportunities for Black and Latinx Women content creators by providing a community of support to share resources, skills, and creative space.
For In-person Attendance Masks are Recommended
Additional Sponsorship provided by:
Sisters in Film & Television - SIFTMEDIA 215 