Looking back at the civil rights movement

COEUR d'ALENE - The Human Rights Education Institute will be screening four documentary films focused on the civil rights movement, starting Wednesday.

The four-week series is made possible through a grant from the New York-based Lehrman Institute of American History in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities. According to a press release, the $1,200 grant was recently awarded to the institute and is titled "Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle."

After each film is screened, a discussion about the movie will be led by a humanities facilitator.

"The community will benefit (from the screenings) by reviewing our struggles for civil rights and to honor those who have helped advance the movement of human rights," said Lisa Manning,

On Wednesday at 6 p.m., the first film, "Slavery by Another Name," will be shown at the institute. According to the release, the film "suggests that even though slavery had ended with the Civil War, new forms of forced labor kept thousands of African Americans in bondage." The film is based on a 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name by Douglas Blackman.

Norm Gissel, a civil rights attorney, will serve as the facilitator for the discussion following the film.

The following three documentaries will be shown Oct. 1, 8, and 15 at 6 p.m.

In the press release, Anneliese Miller, president of the HREI Board of Directors, urged the public and especially students to attend the series.

"We could not be more pleased to have received this outstanding grant allowing us to begin a regional conversation concerning human rights," Miller said in the release.

Gonzaga University and the Spokane Public Library received identical grants to, according to the release, "anchor a regional conversation concerning human rights by the three grantees."

The four-week series is free and open to the public.