Great Migration Community Screening - Swarthmore College

The Great Migration: A City Transformed (1916-1930), a series of audio and video works that celebrate the historic tide of African Americans to the North, is now coming to your neighborhood. Hosted by community partners, the screenings will take place throughout the fall at libraries, rec centers and schools across the Philadelphia region.

ABOUT THE FILMS

Standing at the Scratch Line – dir. Julie Dash (Experimental, 2016, 10 min)

Traveling between churches in Philadelphia and South Carolina, Dash creates a cinematic tone poem about returning to sacred spaces of departure and arrival.

Eason – dir. Kevin Jerome Everson (Experimental, 2016, 15 min)

Eason is loosely based on the life of James Walker Hood Eason (1886-1923), a leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) of Philadelphia.

When We Came Up Here – dir. Tina Morton (Documentary, 2016, 12 min)

Morton, a Scribe alumni, explores how The Philadelphia Tribune played an important role in helping migrants navigate their new home.

Improvement Association – dir. Kevin Jerome Everson (Documentary, 2016, 12 min)

In the film, Malik Hudgins, a long-time member of the UNIA of Philadelphia, talks about his life and advocacy work.

Finding Home: The Ruth L. Bennett Story – by current and former residents of Ruth L. Bennett Homes (Chester Housing Authority) (Documentary, 2016, 11 min)

This profile of a historic landmark looks at the role of the Ruth L. Bennett Home for Women and Girl as a safe haven in Chester, PA for newly arrived migrants from the South. 

The Great Migration: A City Transformed (1916-1930) is supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support is provided by the Lincoln Financial Foundation, Hamilton Family Foundation, and Department of History of Art, Department of Africana Studies, and Center for Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania.