William Greaves, African-American filmmaker, actor, and writer, will present the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 11 in Alumni Hall in the O.J. Johnson Student Union at Gustavus Adolphus College. He will screen and discuss his documentary, “Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey.” The film has been called “One of the rare cases where a documentary manages to combine really powerful material with an appealing and truly engrossing presentation.”
Greaves began his career as an actor on Broadway and in film but has achieved his greatest success behind the camera. Over the course of his career, he has produced more than 200 documentary films and won over 70 international film festival awards, as well as an Emmy and four Emmy nominations. He has been inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; was the recipient of a special “homage” at the first Black American Independent Film Festival; and is also the recipient of an “Indy,” the Special Life Achievement Award of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, a national organization.
“An American Odyssey” focuses on the life of Ralph Bunche, who served as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations in the two decades following World War II and is considered by many to be the first Black American to have “crossed over” into the American mainstream in a field other than sports or entertainment. In 1950, Bunche became the first person of color to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Gustavus Peace Studies program.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510