The much acclaimed feature-length film, “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” will have its national debut during the CBCF Annual Legislative Conference this Friday, Sept. 26 at the Renaissance Hotel across from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington, D.C.
Produced by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and CashWorks HD Productions, the 119-minute documentary recounts the turbulent history surrounding the troubled desegregation of New Hanover County Public schools in North Carolina during the late 1960s through 1971, and the violent incidents, reminiscent of what we saw in Ferguson, Mo. this summer, that led up to the false prosecution of eight Black male students, a White female community organizer, and fiery civil rights activist, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, for protesting racial injustice.
The case of the Wilmington Ten made national and international headlines, resulting in the Congressional Black Caucus, speaking out for justice.Produced, written and directed by Wilmington Journal staff writer Cash Michaels, the film also traces how the Black Press, led initially by Wilmington Journal Publisher Thomas C. Jervay, Sr., and subsequently more than 40 years later by his daughter, publisher-editor Mary Alice Jervay Thatch, through the NNPA, ultimately pushed for, and achieved the official and dramatic exoneration of the Wilmington Ten in 2012 by North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue.
The film will be followed immediately by a panel discussion on issues impacting the African-American community, tentatively featuring members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Admission is free and open to the public.
Special to the NNPA from The Wilmington Journal