March 26, 2025
From Screen to Square Film Screening: ‘Get on Up’
From Screen to Square Film Screening: ‘The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman’ The June 5 screening is the final installment of the 2024-25 Screen to Square series.
The DeLaney Center at Washington and Lee University will conclude its 2024-25 Screen to Square film series at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, with a screening of “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” in Stackhouse Theater inside the Elrod Commons.
The 2024-25 Screen to Square series focuses on the theme “Work, Play and Southern Racial Reality,” and each screening is followed by an interactive discussion between select panelists and the audience relative to each film’s subject matter. All screenings are free and open to the public and include drinks, pizza and dessert.
“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” is an Emmy Award-winning film based on the 1971 novel by Ernest J. Gaines. It debuted in theaters in 1974 and is notable for its exploration of Black life in the American South and its contribution to the broader narrative of African American historical fiction.
The film is set amid racial turmoil in 1960s Louisiana and stars Cicley Tyson as Jane Pittman, a 110-year-old ex-slave who grants an interview to a persistent journalist and shares the remarkable story of her life. Orphaned early on, Pittman spends her time on a plantation until a chance meeting with a white Union soldier changes her outlook. Pittman’s emancipation marks only the beginning of an arduous and heartbreaking odyssey, framed by the horrors of slavery and the justice of the civil-rights movement.
The DeLaney Center is an interdisciplinary academic forum that promotes teaching and research on race and Southern identity. Visit the DeLaney Center website for updates on additional Screen to Square film screenings, DeLaney Dialogues and other programming.
You must be logged in to post a comment.