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The New Black

Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 6-8pm

Part of The Politics and Poetics of Visibility

A program of “We Are Continually Exposed to the Flashbulb of Death”: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg (1953-1996)

Screening and introduction by Lance T. McCready

The New Black (2013, dir. Yoruba Richen) is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.

The New Black takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.

The film’s director, Yoruba Richen, was selected as the 2011-2012 Robert Giard Foundation Fellowship recipient.

Lance T. McCready will introduce the documentary by speaking about anti-homophobia organizing in North American Black communities.

Lance T. McCready, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Urban Education in the department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education (LHAE) at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT). He is an interdisciplinary social scientist whose research, writing and community service focus on lifelong learning and health promotion in urban communities and schools. He has a strong interest in working with marginalized and racialized populations of queer youth, men and boys.

Location

University of Toronto Art Centre


Page and Title Image: Jen Lemen, Still from The New Black.

"Jen Lemen, Still from The New Black"

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