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'63 Boycott Connects the Forgotten Story of One of the Largest Northern Civil Rights Demonstrations to Contemporary Issues Around Race, Education, and Youth Activism

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'63 Boycott Connects the Forgotten Story of One of the Largest Northern Civil Rights Demonstrations to Contemporary Issues Around Race, Education, and Youth Activism Present ‘63 BOYCOTT A film by Rachel Dickson, Tracye A. Matthews, and Gordon Quinn Why 250,000 Chicagoans fought for racial equity in schools – and how the struggle continues today. Distributor: Bullfrog Films Run Time: 31 minutes Language: English Education: http://bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/63boy.html Community Screenings: https://63boycott.bullfrogcommunities.com Contact: Alex Hoskyns-Abrahall, 610-779-8226, [email protected] Press Stills / Poster Synopsis In 1963, 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. '63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest Northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, and youth activism. Please note: our preference is for public-facing materials to credit "A film by Rachel Dickson, Tracye A. Matthews, Gordon Quinn" even though Gordon Quinn is the sole Director credited. More about the film On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. Many marched through the city calling for the resignation of School Superintendent Benjamin Willis, who placed trailers, dubbed ‘Willis Wagons,’ on playgrounds and parking lots of overcrowded black schools rather than let them enroll in nearby white schools. Blending unseen 16mm footage of the march shot by Kartemquin founder Gordon Quinn with the participants’ reflections today,’63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, school closings, and youth activism. Filmmaker Statements In 1963 Jerry Temaner, Stan Karter, and I were students at the University of Chicago. We would later form Kartemquin Films in 1966. When we were tipped off that a large-scale civil rights demonstration against Chicago public school segregation was brewing, we knew we had to film it. We had rented a sync sound camera to film Madame Pandit from UNESCO for the University of Chicago. After the gig, we kept the camera and some leftover film and formed a team of filmmaker volunteers, including Mike Shea, Carol Brightman, Danny Auerbach, etc. to cover the Boycott. After getting the film back from the lab I cut a 10-minute silent piece that I’d play with audio on a ¼” tape of some of the chants. Albert Raby was continuing to organize for the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO) and he would invite me to the meetings, where I’d play the piece by simultaneously projecting the film and playing the tape recording of the chants. 50 years later, as the anniversary of the demonstration grew close, I started working to complete our short for educational use. Originally I had intended the film to feature the student Boycotters and explore the impact of the event on the course of their lives. However, while working on the piece, over 50 schools in Chicago were closed––primarily in Black neighborhoods. We made the decision to incorporate the contemporary conflict around Chicago’s public schools––which remain largely segregated and unequal––into the story of the 1963 Boycott, and its relevance today. - Gordon Quinn (Director/Executive Producer) In 2013, I started working on my own a short film about the school closings in Chicago, shooting the protests and stories about families affected. I also started collaborating with Kartemquin on research for the ‘63 BOYCOTT film. I was shocked that as a Chicago Public School graduate, I had never heard of the boycott before. As I was drawn more and more into the folds of the project, locating the protesters from the ’60s and learning about the boycott itself, it was hard not to see the parallels between the present day fight for educational equity and the Boycott that took place more than 50 years prior. We decided to incorporate footage from my own film into the story about the boycott. It is inspiring to see how this forgotten history resonates with so many people today. - Rachel Dickson (Producer) I became involved in documentary filmmaking while working on my Ph.D. in US history at the University of Michigan. My background as a student activist drew me to study social movements, specifically the Black Power movement and women’s experiences in the Black Panther Party. My initial involvement with ‘63 Boycott was as an historical consultant. Once I joined the production team, conducting the on-camera interviews and doing archival research, I encouraged the team to shift our storytelling to focus on the process of grassroots organizing that made the boycott possible. I have always been interested in finding ways to make history accessible to broad audiences by showing its relevance to contemporary life and social issues. Demonstrating the power of everyday people coming together to create social change in 1963 Chicago will hopefully be of use to current activists struggling with the continuing problems of institutional racism, segregation and disinvestment in public education in poor communities of color. In ‘63 Boycott, history comes out of the classroom and into the streets! - Tracye A. Matthews (Producer) PRESS “‘63 BOYCOTT is a timely look backward as the U.S. public education system stands vulnerably in the crosshairs of public officials who seem determined to destroy it.” –Marilyn Ferdinand, FerdyOnFilms.com “A film every Chicagoan should see.” –Scott Pfeiffer and Jacob Oller, Chicagoist.com “On the one hand, a half hour is probably the right length for a documentary about a one-day event...On the other hand, I would have been happy to have had more of ‘63 BOYCOTT...While the 1963 boycott did not achieve its specific demands, it is clear from the recollections of multiple participants that it sparked something, including a desire to achieve personal educational goals, a long-term interest in community activism and school improvement, and an awareness of injustices that weren’t just happening in another part of the country.” –Mark Walsh, Education Week “With footage shot a half-century earlier as a college student, director Gordon Quinn planned the boycott documentary for its 50th year. He missed the anniversary date. But with co- producers Rachel Dickson and Tracye A. Matthews, he reimagined it as a 30-minute short doc, and produced one packed full of facts.” –Robin Washington, The Chicago Sun-Times “It’s a worthwhile project for reasons other than nostalgia. Today’s students should know they’re part of a long tradition of protest.” -Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader “This film is going to echo loudly given the current state of affairs within the Chicago Public Schools system.” -Rick Kogan, WGN Radio "Meticulous... piercingly intimate" - Southside Weekly "Now this was a school boycott." - Washington Post "Profoundly empowering." - Eve Ewing, writer and scholar "This film is going to echo loudly." - WGN Radio 18 Selected Festivals/Screenings: Chicago International Film Festival (world premiere) Virginia Film Festival Pan African Film Festival 2018 (WINNER: Audience Award) MoMA Documentary Fortnight (NYC premiere) Sarasota Film Festival 33rd Berlin Black International Cinema Exhibition (WINNER: Best Short Documentary) Jacob Burns Film Center - special screening Festival International du Film Pan-African de Cannes Nashville Film Festival (WINNER: Best Short Documentary) Adrian International Film Festival (WINNER: Best Short Documentary) Roxbury International Film Festival (WINNER: Best Short Documentary) Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival DOC NYC (Short Film Short List) Black Maria Film Festival (WINNER: Jury Citation Award) Montreal International Black Film Festival (Honorable Mention: Best Mid-Length Film) Filmmakers GORDON QUINN - Director/Producer, Cinematographer, Executive Producer GORDON QUINN Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films, Gordon Quinn has been making documentaries for over 50 years. Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun Times, called his first film Home for Life (1966) "an extraordinarily moving documentary." With Home for Life Gordon established the direction he would take for the next five decades, making cinéma vérité films that investigate and critique society by documenting the unfolding lives of real people. At Kartemquin, Gordon created a legacy that is an inspiration for young filmmakers and a home where they can make high-quality, social-issue documentaries. Gordon currently executive produces and works creatively on all of our current productions. Kartemquin’s best known film, Hoop Dreams (1994), executive produced by Gordon, was released theatrically to unprecedented critical acclaim. Its many honors include: the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Chicago Film Critics Award – Best Picture, Los Angeles Film Critics Association – Best Documentary and an Academy Award Nomination. In 2017 '63 Boycott, directed by Gordon, world premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. The film features unseen archival 16mm footage of the 1963 Chicago Public Schools Boycott shot by Gordon in 1963. Recent films executive produced by Gordon include Minding the Gap (2018 Sundance Special Jury Award winner for Breakthrough Filmmaking), All The Queens Horses, America to Me (a 10 part series), Edith+Eddie (2018 Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Short), Keep Talking and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2018 Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature). A key leader in creating the “Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use”, Gordon encourages filmmakers
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