NYACP Racial Equity Media Club Film Discussion

"Twelve Years a Slave"

Thursday, November 21, 2024
12:00-1:00pm
via Zoom

RSVP for 11/21/2024

As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting racial equity and addressing systemic racism, the NYACP Racial Equity Media Club will be discussing the film "Twelve Years a Slave".

"Twelve Years a Slave" is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup, an African American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. He was put to work on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before being released. 

12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million. The film received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black British producer to ever receive the award and the first black British director of a Best Picture winner.  The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor.  Since its release, the film has been cited as among the best of the 2010s and of all time, with it being named the 44th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics in 2016.

You can view the trailer HERE.  You can watch it HERE for $3.99 on Google Play.

We encourage you to watch the movie before the discussion to ensure an engaging and insightful conversation. 

Join us as we come together to learn, grow, and advocate for racial equity in our work as collaborative professionals. Together, we can foster positive change and address systemic racism within our communities.

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." –Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution

For some time, the NYACP has been engaged in ongoing conversations about how to support anti-racist work and broaden knowledge and representation within our membership. In 2023, we launched the Racial Equity Committee to facilitate different avenues to increase awareness on issues surrounding racial equity and justice. 

Aside from providing ongoing training programs and discussions for the NYACP membership, the Racial Equity Media Club was created. Every other month there will be a video or book that Club members will view or read a specific selection and then discuss as a group at a Club meeting. Eblasts will go out for each meeting and registration to each meeting will be required. Registration links are below.

There are also suggestions on the website HERE to read, view, and listen to regarding racial equity for your own personal reference.

If you would like more information about the Racial Equity Committee, please contact the NYACP Office.

Both the NYACP Media Club and the media resource list below are intended to encourage engagement with materials and subjects that may be normally overlooked, and to engage our members to be open to different perspectives and experiences.

Log in information will be sent to you in a confirmation email. 

These meetings are for NYACP Members Only.  

Future Meetings: Please mark your calendars!

Book - 1/23 - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

February Field Trip - Date and Location TBD

Film: 3/27 - Just Mercy

Book 5/22 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

June Field Trip- Date and Location TBD