Open Road Films and BazanED today announced a nationwide student initiative surrounding the October 13, 2017 release of the new motion picture Marshall, which tells the story of a pivotal case in U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s early law career.
The national education program includes pre-release screenings of Marshall for 11th and 12th graders in seventeen (17) U.S. cities to take place on October 2, which marks the 50th anniversary of the day Thurgood Marshall was sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court as its first African American associate justice. Select screenings will be followed by a moderated post-screening discussion with historians, judges, attorneys and more. Open Road Films is also providing bus transportation to all participating schools in need. The student outreach program is accompanied by educational curricula developed by BazanED and available to the education community at BazanED.com. The company has also developed curricula for lower-grade students to encourage school districts across the country to honor Marshall by teaching about his life, times and accomplishments on October 2nd.
“Marshall is a riveting piece of entertainment, but it also tells the story of a vitally important and hugely influential American with whom all students should be familiar,” said Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg. “We are thrilled to present the film to high schoolers for reflection and discussion, and work with BazanED, which brings its expertly crafted teaching materials to classrooms everywhere in conjunction with the film.”
“Thurgood Marshall is a real-life superhero, and this movie is a great way for kids to be introduced to a great American without feeling lectured to,” say Marshall Director Reginald Hudlin. “The movie is fun and exciting, but, both kids and adults learn a lot while having a good time, which is what education should be.”
The program’s special screenings will take place in African-American museums and other prominent educational and cultural institutions, as well as commercial theaters. Screenings have been scheduled in New York, Compton, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Palm Beach, Pittsburgh, San Francisco/Oakland, Denver, Kansas City, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and Ft. Lauderdale. Full information and updated locations can be found at BazanEvents.com.
The Compton screening, organized in partnership with Urban Entertainment Institute, will take place at the Compton High School Auditorium and will be followed by a Q&A with director Reginald Hudlin and stars Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad. Students from other area schools will be invited to attend and the discussion will be streamed live to schools throughout the country so students can watch and ask questions of the panelists in real time.
Several African American museums in major U.S. cities have joined the effort to educate students about Justice Thurgood Marshall. In Marshall’s hometown of Baltimore, the film will be shown to students at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum followed by a discussion. The Washington, D.C. event will be hosted by Howard University, the alma mater of Thurgood Marshall, who studied at its law school, as well as the film’s star, Chadwick Boseman, who studied at its theater department. Marshall will also screen at Detroit’s Charles Wright Museum and Chicago’s DuSable Museum.
Yanick Rice Lamb, Associate Professor and Chair, Howard University Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Department of Media, Journalism and Film said, “Howard has deep connections to both the subject and the star of this film, and places special emphasis on producing and supporting the work of black leaders across a wide array of professions. There could not be a more appropriate milieu for high school students to see and discuss a film made by an extremely talented filmmaker, starring an exciting up-and-coming actor, about a trailblazing U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who also happens to also be one of Howard’s most illustrious law graduates. We are naturally honored and excited to be a part of this program.”
Educational curricula about Thurgood Marshall that meet Common Core, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and NCSS state standards will be available at BazanED.com. BazanED has previously launched successful educational initiatives in conjunction with the 2014 Academy Award®-winning film Selma, the 2017 Academy Award® nominated I Am Not Your Negro, 2016’s DGA and NAACP Image Award-nominatedThe Birth of a Nation, the Jesse Owens biopic Race and Davis Guggenheim’s feature-length documentary film Teach, among others.
