January 22, 2009
NJ Revilla-Garcia
210-576-3206
news@hacu.net

"A Class Apart" documentary to air on Feb. 23

On February 23, 2009, people around the country will gather to watch A Class Apart on PBS’s “American Experience” (check local listings). In living rooms and auditoriums, in dorm rooms and cultural centers, they’ll meet  the group of Mexican American attorneys who changed history in 1954. 

 
A Class Apart, the new documentary by celebrated filmmakers Carlos Sandoval and Peter Miller, is the first major film to bring to life the heroic post-World War II struggle of Mexican Americans against the Jim Crow-style discrimination targeted against them. Raising important questions about inclusion, American identity, and equality before the law that are as resonant today as ever, A Class Apart dramatically interweaves the story of its central characters - activists and lawyers, returning veterans and ordinary citizens, murderer and victim- within the broader history of Latinos in America during a time of extraordinary change. 
 
HACU is encouraging its member institutions and chapters to host screenings of A Class Apart on the night of the broadcast and in post-broadcast events. HACU is working with the film’s producers and with Active Voice, a nonprofit media strategy company, to develop these “A Class Apart, A Night Together” house parties and community screenings. Please e-mail ana@activevoice.net  if your institution will be hosting a screening. Download Toolkits here:

House Party Toolkit

Organizations Toolkit

Download a Flyer here

Take a tip from our new President and make this one of your first community action events of 2009! Visit www.CaminoBluff.com or email Ana@ActiveVoice.net to download an “A Class Apart, A Night Together” toolkit with words from the filmmakers, discussion questions, event planning tips, resource lists, action suggestions and more.
 
“A CLASS APART, A NIGHT TOGETHER” IS PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
The American Constitution Society 
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities 
Latino Public Broadcasting 
The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund
 
For more information, visit:
 
                        

 
Banner photo credit: Lee (Russell) Photograph Collection, Center for American History UT-Austin; John J Herrera Collection, Houston Public Library; San Antonio Light Collection, UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures,Courtesy of the Hearst Corporation