A one-hour historical film, The Last Battlefront: Quest for the Vote in Washington, D.C., will be shown at 12 noon and 7 pm on February 2, 2023, and subsequently on various dates and times on WHUT. This is a one-hour historical film about a 222-year-old battle for democracy by residents of Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital. Narrated by Candace Shannon, radio host and former Howard University professor in media and journalism, the film highlights D.C. as the only capital of a major democracy in the modern world whose residents lack representation in the national legislature and basic rights of self-government--rights guaranteed in the Constitution and treasured by Americans in all the fifty states. The film is being telecast during a time when democracy is under attack throughout the nation.
The first historical film ever made on this issue, the project is the result of eleven years of research, interviews, and the gathering of an extensive body of historical footage, paintings, photographs, maps, and visual media drawn from major archives, libraries, and personal collections.
The film was created by Anna Reid Jhirad, a filmmaker with deep experience in historical films for PBS and museums. It was inspired by a hunger strike being waged by her own youngest son’s best friends and classmates from Wilson High School (now called Jackson-Reed High School), protesting D.C.’s lack of representation in Congress. Worried about their health, she urged them to end their hunger strike and instead make a film. Humanities DC provided her company, Marigold Productions, preliminary funds to launch a serious effort to bring on board a full team. A partnership blossomed between Marigold Productions and the Media Studies Department at Catholic University, which provided student interns, additional equipment, a new sound room, and a central location from which to organize the project.
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