100 Years From Mississippi Film Showing

April 5th 7pm 
The Vogue Theatre 
​383 River St. Manistee, MI

A documentary film featuring a resilient 111—year old African American woman, Mamie Lang Kirkland, as she confronts her 1915 childhood trauma fleeing with her family from an approaching lynch mob. This one—hour film will be followed by a discussion with Manistee area leaders Shirley Madden and Mary Trucks, who each have family roots in Mississippi.
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Movie Description:
Mamie Lang Kirkland and her family fled Ellisville, Mississippi in 1915 when she was 7 years old, as her father and his friend John Hartfield escaped an approaching lynch mob.  Hartfield returned to Mississippi in 1919 and was killed in a horrific lynching.  
Mamie’s son Tarabu in 2015 discovered an article about Hartfield’s murder before a crowd of 10,000 spectators.  He convinced Mamie to return to Mississippi and confront her childhood trauma.  Mamie was 107 when she traveled with her son to connect her story to the larger impact of America’s legacy of racial violence. 
Like many of the six million African Americans who left the Deep South, Mamie’s story is a testament to the courage and hope of her generation. Her indomitable will and contagious joy of living is exceeded only by her ability to tell her story 100 years  later.  In a time of great social divisions, “100 Years From Mississippi” gives us the simple wisdom of an ordinary woman’s extraordinary life.

MARJDI is a fiscally-sponsored program of the Manistee County Community Foundation. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the MCCF’s  Limitless Fund.