Documentary Institute premieres “Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power”
(November
4, 2003) The college's Documentary Institute premiered its latest production, Negroes
with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power, this evening at the
J. Wayne Reitz Union Cinema on the
University of Florida campus.
Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power is the raw and unsanitized story of perhaps the most misunderstood civil rights leader in the movement. Robert Williams, often dubbed the “violent crusader,” intended his philosophy of armed self-defense to work in tandem with non-violent resistance.
Instead, that philosophy became the catalyst for a national showdown between two opposing philosophies of the civil rights movement.
In August 1961, Freedom Riders came to Monroe, North Carolina—Williams’ hometown—to prove that passive resistance rather than armed self-defense would defeat the local Klan and improve race relations. But on August 27th all hell broke loose.
By the end of the day, Freedom Riders had been bloodied, beaten, and jailed and Rob Williams was on the run from the FBI.
Featuring a jazz score by Terence Blanchard (Barbershop, the films of Spike Lee), Negroes with Guns combines modern-day interviews with rare archival news footage and interviews to tell the story of Williams, the forefather of the Black Power movement and a fascinating, complex man who played a pivotal role in the struggle for respect, dignity and equality for all Americans.
Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power was written, produced and directed by The Documentary Institute of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. The film's Co-Directors are Sandra Dickson and Churchill Roberts. The Associate Directors are Cindy Hill and Cara Pilson. The Editor is Dan Spiess of Digital Lighthouse Productions.
Related Links:
The Documentary Institute
GainesvilleSun.com:
Need to fight back -
UF institute revives story of black power legend
The Campaign for the University of Florida