In the wake of the 2024 presidential election, and drawing on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s powerful assertion that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," Dr. Artel Great presents an engaging and thought-provoking new program, Fight the Power: The Cultural Politics of Art & Activism. Using cinema as a tool to explore Black freedom movements in the United States and the enduring struggle for social justice, this program will explore the social, political, and cultural contexts underpinning the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960s and contemporary movements for social justice that most certainly lie ahead. By examining the intersections of protest and Black cultural expression, Dr. Great's insightful lecture will provide a compelling look at how Black artists and activists have used film, music, and visual art to convey messages of resistance, resilience, and hope, while fighting for political and economic equality.

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At the heart of the program are two powerful documentaries that capture the ethos of Black movements for social justice: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, directed by Göran Olsson and Dreams Are Colder Than Death by visionary filmmaker Arthur Jafa. This program will explore each film's unique lens on the fight for Black liberation, providing both historical insight and contemporary relevance in the context of our shifting political landscape.

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Attendees will receive private access to watch both films on-demand prior to the event.

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This event is Virtual and will be held on Zoom. After you register for this program, you will receive an acknowledgement email with the link to join the program on Zoom. It will also contain the link to view the films THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE, 1967-1975 and DREAMS ARE COLDER THAN DEATH on-demand prior to the event. If you don't receive the email, check your junk mail or spam folder.

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Dr. Artel Great (@dr.artelgreat) is the inaugural Cultural Critic-in-Residence at MoAD and the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African-American Cinema Studies and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at San Francisco State University. He is also an Independent Spirit Award-nominated filmmaker and film and media scholar who has written on Black cinema and popular culture in both mainstream and academic publications.

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