Civil Rights, Artistic Diversity, Historical Reckoning: Exploring the Film, Literature, and Lives of Marginalized Communities

FAIN: ZPP-283610-22

Mechanics' Institute (San Francisco, CA 94104-5003)
Laura Sheppard (Project Director: May 2021 to November 2023)

Creation of hybrid online and onsite programs exploring civil rights issues, featuring creators and experts from marginalized groups.

Mechanics’ Institute (MI) hosts authors, speakers, and experts with the ability to discern and convey meaning in cultural products such as literature, film, and historical artifacts. MI programs invite attendees to engage in close analysis of the work or topic at hand, and the format of presentation and discussion further involves them in the critical thinking process. Programs fall into four major subject areas: historical study, civic responsibility, literary criticism, and analysis of film and the arts. In the coming fiscal year, MI expects to produce events exploring civil rights issues such as prison reform, immigration, and reparations; featuring literary and cinematic creators from marginalized groups; and illuminating the history of social reform. These programming streams will contribute to the public conversation amongst voices that have long been ignored and suppressed, facilitating direct access to knowledge of what has broken us as a nation and what binds us as a people.