Online documentary screening and discussion on southern writer and activist Lillian Smith

The public is invited to screen a new documentary on southern writer and activist Lillian Smith from July 21 to July 25, and to participate in a live discussion with directors Hal and Henry Jacobs on July 22, from 3-4 p.m. via Zoom.

Lillian Smith received national attention in the 1940s and 1950s as the first prominent white southern author to speak out against segregation. Her first novel, “Strange Fruit,” was a national bestseller that took a bold look at interracial relationships in a small southern town. Smith spoke her conscience on segregation as “spiritual lynching” in many articles and in her controversial semi-autobiographical book “Killers of the Dream.”

“Breaking the Silence” explores how Smith became a formidable opponent of the southern way of life protected by segregationist politicians, church leaders and newspaper editors.

The screening and discussion is co-sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn and the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Participants can register by emailing cmdcah@auburn.edu, and they will receive a link to the screening, as well as instructions for attending the discussion with directors on July 22 at 3 p.m.

For more information on the documentary, click here.