The 24th
Presented in Partnership with The Gregory School, The Houston Museum of African American Culture, The DeLuxe Theater, Houston Public Library, and The Buffalo Soldiers Museum
Followed by a Live Panel with Vinod Hopson, Naomi Carrier, Angela Holder, and Jefferson Pinder
Presented in Partnership with The Gregory School, the Houston Museum of African American Culture, The DeLuxe Theater, Houston Public Library, and The Buffalo Soldiers Museum. With a Live Panel Discussion with Vinod Hopson, Naomi Carrier, Angela Holder, Jefferson Pinder, moderated by Bun B at 5pm CST on Saturday Nov. 14th.
The 24th tells the incredibly powerful and timely true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers. The riot, which lasted two hours, led to the death of nine civilians, four policemen and two soldiers and resulted in the largest murder trial in history, which sentenced a total of nineteen men to execution, and forty-one men to life sentences. The cast includes Trai Byers (Empire), Thomas Haden Church (Divorce), and Aja Naomi King (How to Get Away with Murder). Kevin Willmott, the director and writer also penned BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods.
This film is available across the US and its territories.
| Country, Year | United States, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Director | Kevin Willmott |
| Writer | Kevin Willmott, Trai Byers |
| Cast | Trai Byers, Bashir Salahuddin, Aja Naomi King |
| Producer | Trai Byers, Jordan Fudge, Alexandra Milchan, Kevin Willmott, Tony Grazia, Patrick Peach |
| Language | English |
| Runtime | 101 MINS, SECS |
| Genre | Narrative |
| Subject | Urbana |
| Event Type | Film |
Special Guests
Vinod Hopson
Vinod Hopson is an artist and storyteller. His project, Those Who Desire, is a project exploring the lost, often difficult histories of the city of Houston through performance and cartography. His walking tours subvert a commercial tourist platform, the history tour, by presenting alternative narratives that take a contemporary and critical look at canonized stories. The histories are primarily centered in and around BIPOC communities, and have a resonance today, often reflecting modern concerns that dominate contemporary news cycles. Well-researched, and presented on the original sites, the performances become living, real-time, cultural studies, and critical thinking courses, that ask participants to confront the past, and its implications today. He firmly believes this leads to a more fully understood and appreciated concept of the city. Vinod Hopson was the recipient of a 2016 Idea Fund Grant for Those Who Desire. He was born in New Jersey and has lived in Houston since 1996. He lives with his wife and small daughter, two native Houstonians.
Naomi Carrier
is a consummate educator, historian, performing artist and author with a background in Black Music, Texas History, and heritage tourism. She has used her gifts to educate in the public arena for 40 years, at festivals, in museums, at schools and universities, libraries and historic sites, with exhibits, musicals, black history classes, workshops, and heritage tours. She began her career as a classroom teacher and has been a principal. She is currently a professor at Houston Community College. Naomi is the founder and Executive Director of TCAALH (The Texas Center for African American Living History. She formerly served as Executive Director for the Convict Leasing and Labor Project during the time they were, seeking to memorialize the Sugarland 95 during which time she testified in the Legislature and wrote 25 stories. Carrier’s research has resulted in two pieces of legislation:
H.C.R.245 which recognizes the Underground Railroad from Texas to Mexico; TCAALH is a certified member of the National Park Service Network to Freedom UGRR Program.
H.R.434 that established the bill for the Emancipation National Historic Trail Study.
Jefferson Pinder
Jefferson Pinder has produced performance-based and multidisciplinary work for over a decade. He received a BA in Theatre and MFA in Mixed Media from the University of Maryland and studied at the Asolo Theatre Conservatory in Sarasota, FL. Pinder’s work provokes commentary about race and struggle. Primarily using performance, video, neon, and found objects, he investigates identity through the most dynamic circumstances and materials. From uncanny video portraits associated with popular music to durational work that puts the black body in motion, his work examines physical conditioning that reveals an emotional response. Pinder currently serves as the Director of Academic Affairs for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Professor of Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.