VRA 2021 virtualChicago

‘63 Boycott is a documentary film that connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, school closings, and youth activism. On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest entrenched racial segregation. Unseen 16mm film footage of the march shot by director Gordon Quinn in 1963 formed the basis for the documentary that features interviews with civil rights leaders and follows activism at Chicago Public Schools through the present day.    This presentation will detail the unique collaboration between Kartemquin Films, Mikva Challenge, and Media Burn Archive to create interactive digital tools to enable teaching and learning with the body of footage shot and collected for ‘63 Boycott.    Creating access to a collection of never-before-seen footage provides students with the opportunity for meaningful and unique scholarship. Harnessing the power of archival footage, students will be able to make connections across time and space to tell nuanced, fact-based stories that showcase how today's struggles for social justice build on lived experience and enduring issues.      Participants will walk away from the session with a model for how archives can engage the public with collections of camera original footage; why rights holders should consider allowing re-use of their materials; and how educators can incorporate archival media into the classroom.