Celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and explore African American history and culture at the Stony Island Arts Bank. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, movie screenings and readings culled from our archival collections of black history will last throughout the day. Free and open to the public, activities for all ages.
In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Black Cinema House presents a full day of archival films featuring historic moments from the civil rights leader’s time in Chicago, along with audio and video clips exploring the legacy of the movement.
In partnership with the Chicago Film Archives:
Non-Violence: The Message of Mahandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1975, Sunrise Media Collection)
Producer: Pictura Films for the series Turning Points: America in the Twentieth Century
Filmmakers: Mert Koplin and Charles Grinker | Editor: John Christophel
Reaction Film: Black Power (1975, Sunrise Media Collection)
Producer: Pictura Films for the series Turning Points: America in the Twentieth Century
Filmmakers: Mert Koplin and Charles Grinker | Editor: John Christophel
Cicero March (1966, Film Group Collection)
Camera: Mike Shea | Sound: Mike Gray | Editor: Jay Litvin
In partnership with Media Burn Archive:
Audio: This Train (Studs Terkel, 1963)/ Video: Historical news footage of the March on Washington (1963) (45 seconds).
Historical news footage (1964, 8 minutes)
Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks at an event celebrating the enactment of the Civil Rights Act.
Historical news footage (1954/1968, 40 seconds)
Dr. King speaks at Soldier Field, June 21, 1954, followed by footage of Mayor Richard J. Daley’s press conference giving his infamous “Shoot to kill” order on April 8, 1968.
Excerpt from Daley (Tom Weinberg, 1986, 5 minutes)
John Callaway interviews Daley’s longtime press secretary, Earl Bush, about Daley’s response to the unrest sparked by Dr. King’s assassination.
Historical news footage (year unknown, 30 seconds)
Dr. King speaks on his involvement in Chicago.
Audio only: WBBM radio report on the assassination of Dr. King (1968, 7 minutes).
Historical news footage (1968, 1 minute)
Footage of Dr. King’s casket being loaded onto a plane.
Historical news footage (1968, 3 minutes)
Early responses to Dr. King’s assassination.
Outtake from THE 90’s Election Specials (Andrew Jones, 1992, 1 minute)
Congressman Charles Hayes (D-IL), who was elected to fill the vacant House seat of Harold Washington after he became mayor in 1983, talks about marching with Dr. King in Chicago.
Excerpt from Dovie Thurman, A Conversation with Studs Terkel (produced by the Chicago Video Project of Communications for Change, Community TV Network, and Community Media Workshop, 1997, 4 minutes)
Dovie Thurman, community organizer & the “heart” of Uptown speaks with Studs Terkel about her reaction to Dr. King’s assassination.
Excerpt from Omnibus: Studs Terkel’s Chicago (Mike Dibb, 1985, 2 minutes)
Studs Terkel interviews Peggy Terry, a Southern white whose ingrained racist views were challenged and changed by her awakening to civil rights issues in Montgomery, AL.
Outtake from THE 90’s (Jimmy Sternfield, 1990, 1 minute)
Professor William M. King, pioneer of Black Studies at the University of Colorado, discusses Dr. King’s ideal of the “beloved community.”
Excerpt from March for Disarmament (Ted Krichels, 1982, 20 seconds)
Folksinger and activist Joan Baez speaks about Dr. King at this anti-nuclear weapons rally in Central Park attended by nearly a million people.
Outtake from Voices of Cabrini (Ronit Bezalel, 1997, 1 minute)
Patrons at George Robbins’s Barbershop in Cabrini–Green remember the unrest following Dr. King’s assassination.
Excerpt from The Other M.J. (Tom Weinberg, 1999, 15 seconds)
Chicagoan Michael Johnson quotes Dr. King on MLK Day.
Footage of Chicago special events (Bill Stamets, 1985, 3 minutes)
Stevie Wonder and a gospel choir pay musical tribute to Dr. King on his birthday.