Join us for a preview screening of the documentary film Current: A Descendant’s Journey for Truth followed by a discussion with producer Pam Smith, director Loria King, and other film team members. The filmmakers ride the rivers and walk the land that brought enslaved people to the shores of Virginia and the places of their bondage and resistance. As the film explores the legacies of enslavement and what it will take for our country to repair and heal, it examines why telling the truth about history is important.

Producer Pam Smith is a historian and genealogist who did research for the film at the Library of Virginia. She is a descendant of Matilda (Lewis) Threlkeld, the biological granddaughter of Lucy Jefferson Lewis, sister to Thomas Jefferson, which makes Matilda the enslaved niece of Thomas Jefferson. This screening features the Virginia portion of the film, shot in Richmond, Charlottesville, and Arlington. It includes commentary by Virginia artists, teachers, students, librarians, historians, family history researchers, faith leaders, social justice advocates, and others, including historian and author Edward Ayers, genealogist Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy, and Jenna Owens with the Getting Word African American Oral History Project at Monticello.

For more information, contact Anne McCrery at anne.mccrery@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3568.

This talk is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Limited free parking is available underneath the Library at 800 East Broad Street.