CVN Cool, a Vision to 2020-February 2012 Issue ..Page 7
Thursday, Feb. 9: REGINE JEAN-CHARLES 12:00 Noon, Meigs Room, Swope Center, MBL Beyond Resilience: Haitian Women's Post-Earthquake Cultural Production Boston College Professor Regine Jean-Charles will outline the history of Haitian women's feminist writing and activism to provide a context for thinking about the role of art and cultural production in post-earthquake Haiti.
Tuesday, Feb. 14: RUSSELL IRVINE 12:00 Noon, Meigs Room, Swope Center, MBL
"The African American Quest for Institutions of Higher Education Before the Civil War"
Author Russell Irvine studies the important ideological divisions that drove access to higher education for African Americans during the antebellum era: The African Colonization Movement, 1817-1862 and the Abolitionist Movement, 1830-1865, and features actual histories of individuals who succeeded in obtaining an education as well as the histories of the institutions that served them. Copies of Irvine's book will be available.
Thursday, Feb. 16th, MARCUS JACKSON 12:00 Noon, Meigs Room Swope enter, MBL
Neighborhood Register: A Poetic Exploration and Celebration of Everyday People and Places
From the twilight towns of the Rust Belt to the vivid inlets of New York City Marcus Jackson's poems feature the people, scenes, and sectors from which hidden music and meaning unearth. The collection evokes the beauties and difficulties within multi-racial families, the value of vernacular, and the unexpected resonances of common objects.
Thursday, Feb. 23: Exploring African American Women's Roles in and Contributions to the Making of America
Round Table Discussion 3:00 PM, Meigs Room, Swope Center, MBL
Moderated by Jacqueline P. Fields, Ph.D., Wellesley College Faculty and Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, member, Barnstable County Human Rights Commission. Resident of Sandwich,
Massachusetts. Let your voice be heard! Participate in the discussion or just listen in.
Thursday, Feb. 23: Harambee 4:30 to 8:00 PM, Swope Center, MBL
Tuesday, Feb. 14: RUSSELL IRVINE 12:00 Noon, Meigs Room, Swope Center, MBL
"The African American Quest for Institutions of Higher Education Before the Civil War"
Author Russell Irvine studies the important ideological divisions that drove access to higher education for African Americans during the antebellum era: The African Colonization Movement, 1817-
Thursday, Feb. 16th, MARCUS JACKSON 12:00 Noon, Meigs Room Swope enter, MBL
Neighborhood Register: A Poetic Exploration and Celebration of Everyday People and Places
From the twilight towns of the Rust Belt to the vivid inlets of New York City Marcus Jackson's poems feature the people, scenes, and sectors from which hidden music and meaning unearth. The collection evokes the beauties and difficulties within multi-
Thursday, Feb. 23: Exploring African American Women's Roles in and Contributions to the Making of America
Round Table Discussion 3:00 PM, Meigs Room, Swope Center, MBL
Moderated by Jacqueline P. Fields, Ph.D., Wellesley College Faculty and Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, member, Barnstable County Human Rights Commission. Resident of Sandwich,
Massachusetts. Let your voice be heard! Participate in the discussion or just listen in.
Thursday, Feb. 23: Harambee 4:30 to 8:00 PM, Swope Center, MBL
Woods Hole Black History Month:
Black Women in American Culture
Black Women in American Culture
George Lucas and the making of the movie Red Tail - a real cool movie - for kids
STORY: George Lucas talks filmmaking
MORE: Black pilots awarded top civilian medal
"For those of us in my group of filmmakers, like Steven (Spielberg) or Ron (Howard) or Marty (Scorsese), we want to make movies that enthralled us when we were little," Lucas says as the sun ignites an expansive Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired office at Big Rock Ranch, part of his 6,000-acre retreat north of San Francisco.
"For me, Red Tails is like Flying Leathernecks," he says, the 1951 John Wayne charge through Guadalcanal. "It's corny. It's über-patriotic. And it's a really exciting action-adventure movie. As for the racism in our story, it's embedded in the material, so we just had to be careful not to overdo it."
Tuskegee Airmen in Film
The Tuskegee Airmen first appeared on screen in 1945. Click here for a look at a few other films to feature the famed Airmen.
Conversations with Lucas, Red Tails director Anthony Hemingway and castmembers make one thing clear: Pride in this project is only peripherally connected to box-office success.
For Lucas, 23 years have passed since he first was told about the fabled Airmen and their Scripts came and went. Special effects improved. His personal fortune mushroomed enough to contemplate making a labor of love without an assist from a major studio. Finally, in 2009, principal photography began in the Czech Republic and Croatia (doubling for Germany and Italy), followed by more than a year of special-effects work (Lucas' pioneering firm Industrial Light & Magic supervised while actual effects were rendered by smaller companies all over the world).
"I have only one agenda, and that's for a lot of young people to see this movie," says Lucas, who adds that corporations already have signed on to sponsor "I Bids who see this, be they black or white, will walk out thinking (the Airmen) were cool."
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For Hemingway, whom Lucas plucked from the realm of television (HBO's The Wire and Treme), and his largely black cast, making Red Tails was less about the chance to work on a well-financed feature film and more about honoring the movie's legendary advisers whose numbers dwindled over the course of the project.
"I looked into the eyes of these amazing guys, and as a black man and an artist I knew I had to tell their story in a way that reflected the huge responsibility I have to my community," says Hemingway, 36, who notes he was not aware of the Airmen as a kid.
"I'm glad we can change awareness with this movie. But ultimately, to me Red Tails isn't just a black story, it's an American success story."
When Cuba Gooding Jr. heard that a major feature was planned on the flyboys who famously painted the tails of their P-51 Mustang planes red — a story he already had tackled as a castmember in the 1995 HBO film The Tuskegee Airmen— he lobbied to be included.
A story that had to be told
"For my sons not to know about this part of history is unacceptable," says the Oscar winner, who in Red Tails plays the squadron's pipe-chewing leader. "When I heard George was making a go of it, I couldn't sit back. Hollywood just isn't green-lighting these kinds of tales, because they tend to be gambles financially."
Fellow Red Tail actor David Oyelowo insists that "no one but George would make sure this movie got made. It's crazy to call him an independent filmmaker, but that's what he was on this. He bankrolled it and saw that a lot of young black artists could spread their wings."
Lucas didn't expect to pony up the film's entire budget; he met with a half-dozen major studio heads to suggest a financial partnership, but none accepted.
"Everyone said: 'You're George Lucas walking in there. Won't they just do anything for you?' And the answer is no. They felt there was no evidence that this sort of film would draw a big audience. I said I disagreed. The most important thing to me is my freedom. I've been investing in my own movies since Empire (Strikes Back), so it was just time to do it again."