The movie “Get on the Bus” premiered on Wednesday, February 14 to a packed house at the Decker Theatre at Washington College’s Gibson Center for the Arts.
The hour-long production documents a six-day field trip in July 2022 by 42 Kent youths and adults who traveled to Civil Rights era landmarks in Alabama and Georgia, including the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham; the King Center in Atlanta, Edmund Pettus Bridge and National Voting Rights Museum in Selma; and the Equal Justice Initiative’s Community Remembrance Project in Montgomery.
Three years ago, Paul Tue III, CEO of Minary’s Dream Alliance, LLC, envisioned a Civil Rights Bus Tour only to have the project postponed by the Covid pandemic. The delay provided an opportunity for further planning and a co-sponsorship with the James Taylor Justice Coalition (JTJC) of Sumner Hall, transforming the bus trip into a dual mission, merging Minary’s Dream Alliance’s teaching trip with JTJC’s goal of delivering a glass container filled with soil from James Taylor’s lynching site in Chestertown to the Equal Justice Initiative Remembrance Project in Montgomery, Alabama.
Filmed by Andover Media’s Justinian Dispenza, the movie evocatively portrays the enduring impact of the Civil Rights movement on young and adult African Americans. It delves into their deep connection with a legacy of injustice and a new resonance with Dr. King’s words from a 1956 article describing the transformative power of non-violent revolutionary change: “In Montgomery, we walk in a new way. We hold our heads in a new way.”
“We watched movies about Bloody Sunday on the way down for the walk across Pettus Bridge. Walking across that bridge just put you in that place,” says Paul Tue III. “I thought about if we had been there, would we have had the courage to cross that bridge knowing what was waiting on the other side?; Would we now?”
The Spy recently talked to Justinian about his experience as the trips’ videographer and his daily engagement with fellow travelers. The Spy video starts with an introduction to Wednesday night’s premiere by Dr. Patrick Nugent.
Philip Dutton tells the Spy that another trip is being planned. To support the next “Get on the Bus” project, you can contribute through the Charles Sumner Hall website here. Note that your donation is for “Get on the Bus.”
This video is approximately five minutes in length. To see the trailer for the movie, go here . The full movie will soon be available to the public. The Spy will provide a link. For more about the Equal Justice Initiative, go here.
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