Refusing Silence: A Black Film & Dialogue Series on Resistance and Reclamation

DL 250 Damian Auditorium

Event Name: Black Film Series<br>Event Locator: 2025-AATAZP<br>Event State: Confirmed<br>Organization: Office of Diversity<br><br><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Join the Office of Diversity, Sociology Department and African American Studies Program for a film screening and discussion of </span><strong><em>Judas and the Black Messiah</em></strong><em>. </em><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this 2021 award-winning, long-awaited film focused on Fred Hampton, founder of the Rainbow Coalition and the Illinois State Chair of the Black Panther Party, the work and legacy of the Black Panther Party in general and that of Fred Hampton, Deborah Johnson, and other Panthers in refusing state violence through political education, organizing, survival programs, and revolutionary actions are explored.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This film screening is part of Lewis University's Fall 2025 "</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Refusing Silence: A Black Film & Dialogue Series on Resistance and Reclamation."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Refusing Silence” is a three-part co-curricular film and dialogue series inspired by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson’s powerful work,</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance</span></span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">All are welcome to join this intentional space for collective engagement, healing, and intellectual empowerment through the lens of Black film. Each session centers a film that echoes the themes of rebellion, refusal, radical love, joy and communal resilience, opening up rich conversations that connect historical Black resistance to contemporary struggles and triumphs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anchored in monthly gatherings leading up to Black History Month, this series prepares the campus for Dr. Carter Jackson’s in-person visit to the Romeoville Campus on 2/11/26 by building a community of reflection and action. It is more than a film series—it is a reclamation of space, voice, and narrative at Lewis University.</span></p>

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