Today is June 9. Had she lived, this would be Dorothy Foreman Cotton’s 93rd birthday. Even now, her well-deserved stardom is rising.
Through our documentary Move When the Spirit Says Move: the Legacy of Dorothy Foreman Cotton, she is continuing to teach, affirm and motivate people with her life story, the narratives of her colleagues, friends and family, and most powerfully, her own voice.
The film is a collaboration between the Dorothy Cotton Institute and filmmakers Deborah Hoard and Ry Ferro at PhotoSynthesis Productions (PSP). You can read about our team and see a full and growing list of film festivals where the documentary has been or will be featured. This film has a big impact on people, and viewers have commented that it should be seen by all students and teachers.
Here in Ithaca, MOVE it had its east coast premier in April at the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) for a two-week run at indie film house Cinemapolis, then was back by popular demand for a week-long encore in May. We are excited that through the generosity of the Ithaca City School District, the Park Foundation, and the support of a large number of individual donors, over 300 high school students, teachers, and a group of Seniors in our community have been able to see the film for free. Yesterday morning and today, around 230 students from Lehman Alternative School and Ithaca High School saw Move When the Spirit Says Move with their teachers. We are truly delighted and hope to hear about the young people’s experiences.
Beyond Ithaca, Dorothy Cotton’s story has moved and inspired activists and educators at a number of special screenings: for Civil and Human Rights icons and foot soldiers at the National Council of Elders; for the Highlander Research and Education Center’s 90th anniversary and with their support, at a conference of Folk Schools in Copenhagen; for the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School training; and this month, at Juneteenth celebrations at Colorlines.com, the African Diaspora Film Festival in Chicago, and the Nashville African American Music Museum.
At the SCLC, Dorothy’s work with Septima Clark and Andrew Young brought the powerful Citizenship Education Program classes to thousands of people throughout the southern states, struggling to end legalized segregation under Jim Crow laws. Their influence and courage in organizing to end American-style Apartheid led to the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act. and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which we will be commemorating and celebrating this August 6th. We believe that Dorothy would be so very proud that her remarkable legacy is alive and moving people who had never heard about her. We also believe that this film contributes a compelling affirmation of the power of education, our right to know our rights, and to know and truthfully teach our American history.
“We are all diminished when the rights of any are violated. We will thrive as individuals and as a collective when all our rights are protected and respected. The movement for human rights is a story about all of us, opening up a space for the beloved community”.
(Dorothy Cotton, If your Back’s Not Bent, 2012: p.322)
Don’t miss the long-awaited East Coast premier of our documentary! It is part of the:
Running Time: 87 min
A featured in-person screening of at Cinemapolis, Saturday, March 25, 7 p.m.
PSP filmmakers Ry Ferro and Deborah C. Hoard, and DCI Project Director Laura Branca will be present for Q & A, along with other special guests.
Ticketed event.
Dorothy Foreman Cotton was a bold and highly effective civil rights leader, who educated thousands in their citizenship rights and inspired generations of activists with her powerful freedom songs and her leadership. SCLC’s Education Director, and the only woman on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s executive staff, Dorothy was a charismatic, courageous and consistently overlooked key player in the Civil Rights Movement.
East Coast Premiere will be on 3/25, and Move when the Spirit Says Move with be at Cinemapolis through April 7, for a 14-day run. Tickets available to the public at Cinemapolis.
On Friday, February 10, at 6:45 pm PT, our documentary, MOVE WHEN THE SPIRIT SAYS MOVE: THE LEGACY OF DOROTHY FOREMAN COTTON, directed and produced by PhotoSynthesis Productions, premiered as an opening night selection at the Pan African Film Festival at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza 15 and XD in Los Angeles, with an encore screening on February 11.
The documentary chronicles the life of DCI’s distinguished fellow and co-founder, Dorothy Foreman Cotton, and her inspiring, courageous work for civil and human rights. The film is directed by Ry Ferro (RIZE UP, THERE’SYOUR READY GIRL, RE:THINKING) and Deborah C. Hoard (RIZE UP, THEY CALL IT MYANMAR, CIVIL WARRIORS).
Dr. Cotton was the only woman on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s executive staff. The film includes insights, commentary, reflections, and recounts from notables such as Ambassador Andrew Young and Bernard Lafayette, both of whom worked closely with Dorothy Cotton and Dr. King at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Latosha Brown, founder of Black Voters Matter, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson (Highlander Research and Education Center), civil rights leader Rev. Carolyn Maul McKinstry, Mrs. Aljosie Harding of the National Council of Elders, and Stanford historian and founder of the Martin Luther King Research and Education Institute, Dr. Clayborne Carson.
“We are honored to bring Dorothy’s story to the world during a time when democracy is being threatened,” said Deborah Hoard, producer and director. “Her legacy can help us to recognize our power as citizens and use it to bring about the change we seek.”
The film has been a collaboration between PhotoSynthesis Productions and the Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI). DCI was founded by Dorothy Cotton and her colleagues in 2007 in Ithaca, NY. DCI offers human rights education and training in civic engagement, based on the philosophy and practices of nonviolence, reconciliation, restoration, and leadership development.
The Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles (PAFF) presents and showcases a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes of Africans and African Americans. Since 1992, PAFF has remained dedicated to the promotion of Black stories and images through the exhibition of film, visual art, and other creative expression. Today, PAFF is one of the largest and most prestigious Black film festivals in the U.S. and attracts local, national, and international audiences. In addition, it is an Oscar-qualifying festival for animation and live-action films, and one of the largest Black History Month events in America. We are thrilled that Move When the Spirit Says Move played to a sold-out audience and producer Deborah Hoard and director Ry Ferro were honored by a surprise special guest. Civil rights activist and leader, Rev. James Lawson came to the screening and loved the film, and he expressed that it is so needed now.
This March, 2023, Move When the Spirit Says Move will be shown on March 18 at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. The film has been nominated to the Toronto International Women Film Festival. There will be a special screening in Goldsboro, NC, Dorothy Cotton’s home town, and a special in-person screening in downtown Ithaca, NY on March 25 at the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) at Cinemapolis.
Dear DCI Friends and Colleagues,
Our esteemed and beloved friend and DCI National Advisor, Dr. James E. Turner passed away last week. With respect and humility, we honor him as a renowned national and international scholar, pioneering educator and movement builder. With immense sadness and gratitude, we feel the loss of a leader and elder whose gracious presence, dignity, wry humor, kindness and generosity graced our community for over five decades.
He was not an academic who cloistered himself in the Ivory Tower; for example, he shared his deep knowledge and penetrating insight with hundreds of public school teachers and activists who were fortunate enough to take his hugely impactful course, Racism in American Society, co-taught with Don Barr. He and Dean Janice Turner showed up at so many community events and meetings, always willing to share wisdom, attention and support with all of us, on and off campus. Dr. Turner embodied the cultural wealth and wisdom of the African diaspora, and sharing the truth of our history, the integrity of his legacy has fostered generations of brilliant scholars, activists for justice, and stronger people.
Here are some resources and information about Dr. Turner’s legacy, shared by a national Black studies network.
James E. Turner Professor/Activist Africana Studies
https://www.diverseeducation.
https://moguldom.com/418054/
His voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.ithacajournal.com/
https://mediaspace.illinois.
Family comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Cornell
https://africana.cornell.edu/
https://africana.cornell.edu/
The Cornell Center he created
https://crowdfunding.cornell.
Images
https://tinyurl.com/9zkpsew9
Willard Straight Hall 50th Anniversary: Reflecting on the Legacy of James Turner and Black Student Activism 1969-2019
Dr. James Turner and Reclaiming African Studies (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Experiences working with James Turner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Reflections from colleagues on his vision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
For generations, Indigenous persons, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, have been forced to mourn a missing or murdered loved one without the answers and support they deserve. On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we remember these victims and their families, and commit to working with Tribal Nations and Native communities to achieve justice and healing.
Read more….
Ending the ‘life of violence’: Raising awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
People of good conscience are struggling with what it means to be in right relationship, and what it takes to help bend the long arc toward justice. In these extraordinarily troubling times, these questions from Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois challenge us, whether in personal reflection, before we act, or in developing the moral compass and strategies of a movement for freedom, human rights and peace (dare we hope?).
Take the challenge.
From Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois:
♦ “How shall Integrity face Oppression?
♦ What shall Honesty do in the face of Deception?
♦ Decency in the face of Insult?
♦ Self-Defense before Blows?
♦ How shall Desert and Accomplishment meet Despising, Detraction, and Lies?
♦ What shall Virtue do to meet Brute Force?
“There are so many answers, and so contradictory; and such differences for those on the one hand who meet questions similar to this once a year or once a decade, and those who face them hourly and daily.”
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https://indd.adobe.com/view/f2598457-f139-4ce8-8413-3ab34da1fd19
In January 2021 at a Stanford University film festival, themed Where Do We Go From Here, and in April 2021, in partnership with Tompkins County The History Center in celebration of Black Women’s History Month, the Dorothy Cotton Institute gave virtual screenings of THERE’S YOUR READY GIRL! This is a short film by Deborah Hoard of PhotoSynthesis Productions which was produced during the pandemic with footage from the feature-length documentary currently in production, MOVE WHEN THE SPIRIT SAYS MOVE, about Dorothy’s life and legacy. THERE’S YOUR READY GIRL! has won two prestigious awards this year:
First Place in the Social Issues Documentary category in the New York Women In Film and Television (NYWIFT) Online Shorts Festival! THERE’S YOUR READY GIRL! is available to watch on YouTube. The 11 minute documentary tells the story of Dorothy Foreman Cotton – a bold, highly effective and important civil rights leader. Throughout her long life she organized, she spoke out, she challenged the status quo, she sang powerful freedom songs. Most importantly, she ran a Citizenship Education Program that moved thousands of people from a mindset of “victim” to that of a fully-engaged citizen in the Jim Crow south. She was the only woman on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Executive Staff, yet her contributions have largely gone unrecognized.
THERE’S YOUR READY GIRL! has also won a Bronze Telly Award! The Tellys are a very large competition with lots of categories – we won in Non-broadcast Social Responsibility. https://www.tellyawards.com/
“The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Entrants are judged by The Telly Awards Judging Council—an industry body of over 200 leading experts including advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks, reflective of the multiscreen industry and includes executives from Dow Jones, Duplass Brothers Productions, Complex Networks, A&E Networks, Hearst Media, ESPN Films, RYOT, Vice+ and Vimeo. Winners are selected for recognition based on excellence in the following areas: Branded Content, Commercials & Marketing, Immersive & Mixed Reality, Non-Broadcast, Series / Shows / Segments and Social Video.”
Dorothy Cotton was a bold, highly effective and important civil rights leader, the only woman on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Executive Staff. In celebration of Black Women’s History Month, The History Center and the Dorothy Cotton Institute are hosting a virtual screening of the award-winning short film THERE’S YOUR READY GIRL! which was produced during the pandemic with footage from the feature-length documentary currently in production, MOVE WHEN THE SPIRIT SAYS MOVE, about Dorothy’s life and legacy. Screening of the 11-minute film will be followed by a panel discussion on the experience of working with Dorothy and the role of women in Civil Rights history, featuring excerpts from a newly recorded interview with Ambassador Andrew Young and appearances by filmmaker Deborah C. Hoard, Dorothy Cotton Institute Fellows Laura Branca and Margo Hittleman and special guests.
This event will take place over Zoom. Register to receive reminder emails about the event, and you’ll access the meeting information to join on April 14th. https://thehistorycenter.net/event-4222277/Registration