Civil Rights Foot Soldiers to Join Panel Discussion at Brown Bag Lunch's Barber of Birmingham Screening, September 12

Several Birmingham civil rights foot soldiers will participate in a panel discussion on Wednesday, September 12, at the Central Library as part of the 12 p.m. showing of The Barber of Birmingham.

The Oscar-nominated documentary will be shown for free in the Arrington Auditorium as part of the library's Brown Bag Lunch Program. The film features Birmingham barber James Armstrong and what he did to fight for equality in Alabama. In 1963, Armstrong won his fight to integrate Birmingham's Graymont Elementary School. His two sons would become the school's first black students.

Wednesday's screening will be the first of 14 screenings that will be shown at various Birmingham branches, September 12-October 22. This event is a collaboration with POV (Point of View), the award-winning independent nonfiction film series on PBS. The film was produced by Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday.

Wednesday's panel discussion will include:

GLORIA WASHINGTON LEWIS-RANDALL - She was one of thousands of school children who left school, marched, and was jailed for participating in the Birmingham sit-ins and boycotts of 1963.

SEARCY CRAWFORD - Was a civil rights demonstrator from 1956 to 1963. He was jailed in the Birmingham City Jail in 1963.

CHARLES AVERY JR. - He was a high school demonstrator of 1963. He had to be hidden in Chicago until the civil rights movement was over to make sure racists and Ku Klux Klan members would not harm him.

LAVERN REVIS MARTIN A - 1956-1963 demonstrator. Was instrumental in finding dynamite at the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth's home and preventing a second bombing there.

SHIRLEY GAVIN FLOYD - She was a 10-year-old demonstrator in 1963. She appears in The Barber of Birmingham and served as a liaison to one of the documentary's producers.

PAULETTE PORTER ROBY - Was jailed for protesting unfair practices. She stayed in jail overnight. She was released when NAACP members paid her bond.

BARBARA BASEMORE - A 1963 child protestor. Walked out of her high school one day, marched, and was jailed for several weeks. Her quote is on a civil rights trail marker in front of the federal courthouse on Fifth Avenue North in downtown Birmingham.

The schedule:
Sept. 12 - Central Library, 2100 Park Place, 12 p.m. (226-3600)
Sept. 14 - Springville Road Library, 1224 Old Springville Road, 10 a.m. (226-4083)
Sept. 18 - West End Library, 1348 Tuscaloosa Ave. SW, 6 p.m. (226-4089)
Sept. 24 - Avondale Library, 509 - 40th St. South, 6:30 p.m. ( 226-4000)
Sept. 25 - Southside Library, 1814 - 11th Ave. South, 12 p.m. (933-7776)
Sept. 26 - North Avondale Library, 501 43rd St. North, 10:30 a.m. (592-2082)
Sept. 26 - Titusville Library, #2 Sixth Ave. SW., 12 p.m. (322-1140)
Sept. 27 - East Ensley Library, 900 14th St. Ensley, 4 p.m. (787-1928)
Sept. 28 - Inglenook Library, 4100 - 40th Terrace North, 3 p.m. (849-8739)
Oct. 2 - Springville Road Library, 1224 Old Springville Road, 4 p.m., (226-4083) (This one will be targeted toward teenagers.)
Oct. 10 - Five Points West Library, 4812 Ave. W, 10:30 a.m. (226-4013)
Oct. 11 - Smithfield Library, #1 Eighth Ave. West, 10 a.m. (324-8428)
Oct. 19 - Powderly Library, 3301 Jefferson Ave. SW., 10 a.m. (925-6178)
Oct. 22 - North Birmingham Library, 2501 - 31st. Ave. North, 11 a.m. (226-4025)