Free documentary film screening of 'Banished'

From the 1860s to the 1920s, dozens of towns and counties across America practiced their own form of racial cleansing, violently expelling entire African American communities and forcing thousands of black families to flee their homes. A century later, these towns remain virtually all white. BANISHED tells the story of three of these communities, following black descendants who return to learn their shocking histories as well as current residents forced to confront their shameful history.

In Forsyth County, Georgia, where a thousand black residents were expelled, the film explores the question of land fraudulently taken, and follows some descendants in their quest to uncover the real story of their family's land. In Pierce City, Missouri, a man has designed his own creative form of reparation -- he wishes to disinter the remains of his great-grandfather, who was buried there before the banishment. And in Harrison, Arkansas, home to the headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan, a white community struggles with their town's legacy of hate.

Award-winning filmmaker Marco Williams does not seek easy answers, nor does he shy away from difficult issues. Through conversations with current residents and the descendants of those who were driven out, he challenges viewers to contemplate questions of privilege, responsibility, denial, healing, reparations, race relations and identity.

BANISHED premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and was a New York Times' critics pick that same year.

Banished will be screened FREE on Wednesday, December 8, at the Ellen Driscoll Theater, 325 Highland Ave., in Piedmont. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with free refreshments; screening from 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. with discussion following. The Appreciating Diversity Film Series is sponsored by the Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee, DiversityWorks, and the Piedmont League of Women Voters.

Diversityfilmseries.org or 925-209-5949