By: Sharoll Jackson
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 02/10/2018 – February is Black History Month and audiences nationwide are anticipating one of the grandest stories ever told featuring people of color as superheroes. But TV One’s original made for television movie, Behind The Movement, (showing on TV One, February 11, 2018 at 7pm/6c) reminds us we need not look further than 62 years in our past to find inspiration in real life heroes.
Behind The Movement tells the story of Rosa Parks in a way history books don’t cover. It is the story of how one woman’s defiant act was able to serve as a catalyst for an entire movement – the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955; most extraordinarily organized in just one weekend with efforts from Rosa and Raymond Parks, Rev. King, E.D. Nixon, Abernathy, Jo Ann Robinson, and many others.
Following a Hollywood screening of Behind The Movement, the audience was treated to a robust Q&A session with panelists including Key Cast Members and Execs: Meta Golding, Isaiah Washington, Loretta Devine, Roger Guenveur Smith, Saun Clay, Aric Avelino, Katrina O’Gilvie, D’Angela Proctor, and Keith Neal. Panelists chimed in with poignant, insightful messages. Smith (as Raymond Parks) eloquently commented that “this is a story of struggle… Raymond and Rosa Parks are married to each other but they also have to be married to the movement.” Devine (as Jo Ann Robinson) reflected that “it’s really important that people know how hard people fought for them to have the freedoms that we have.”
It is evident that audiences are tremendously engaged as the film premieres across the nation. Washington (as Edgar E.D. Nixon) announced that “even when theaters were at capacity, there were people lined up outdoors still waiting to get in.” O’Gilvie (Writer) recognizes that this “is a tremendous amount of responsibility in general, as a writer and as a woman of color… it’s great to get people motivated and excited about what they can do and how they can participate.”
Film, literature, and music embrace vast archives of stories and information, and the portfolio is growing with TV One’s successful efforts to present heroic journeys about people of color. The premiere showing of Behind The Movement on TV One is scheduled for Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 7pm/6c.
Tune in to see a true story that demonstrates the unstoppable power of the seed of thought. In the words of Smith, “People are wanting to see heroic stories and we can look at comic books, but remember, Rosa and Raymond Parks came out of American life and they are flesh and blood… as we look at our own history in this country, we will continue to be inspired.”
