NCSS, Apple Original Films, and A24 invite you to watch Boys State, winner of the US Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film takes a wildly entertaining and continually revealing immersive look into a week-long annual program organized by the American Legion in which a thousand Texas high school seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government. 

The screening will be hosted on Eventive. You will receive an email with a link to the Eventive viewing page 24 hours before the screening. At the viewing page, you will set a username and password, and can begin viewing at 8pm EST. Eventive works best with PCs running Windows 7+, Macs running OS 10.12+, Android tablets and phones using Chrome, and iPhones and iPads using Safari. Airplay and Chromecast are enabled for users with Apple TV and Chromecast devices. A panel discussion including the filmmakers and some of the featured boys follows the screening.

Interested attendees must register in advance.

Trailer

True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality examines the personal journey of Bryan Stevenson, a public defender in Alabama and director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who is working to bring justice to the incarcerated, wrongfully convicted and disadvantaged. This film weaves together Stevenson’s own story, those of his clients, and a history of injustice and complicity by our justice system to reveal how a narrative of racial inequality emerged in this country. Bryan challenges us to seek the truth, confront it, and work towards reconciliation.

A panel discussion follows the screening.

Trailer

Presented by NCSS’s Indigenous Education Community and Human Rights Education Community and Upstander Project

Dawnland looks behind the scenes at the first truth and reconciliation commission in U.S. history to focus on issues of importance to Indigenous peoples, and it places the issue of Indigenous child removal in the historical context of repeated violations against Native families. In 2019, the film won an Emmy for Outstanding Research and is accompanied by a free, 12-lesson teacher’s guide.

A panel will guide the discussion after the screening.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ncss-dawnland-online-film-screeninglive-
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Following the screening

A Deep and Dangerous History: Teaching Truth about Forced Separation of Indigenous Children in the U.S.
Mishy Lesser, Sarah Shear, Chris Newell

The United States has long used legislative measures to expand its unwarranted power over Indigenous peoples. Hundreds of treaties with Native nations have been signed and broken, and laws have been passed and ignored. One law, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which protects Indigenous parents from forcible removal of their children, is now under attack. Challenges to ICWA may move the case to the Supreme Court. In this session, we will review the history of ICWA, the role of Indigenous women and their lawyer-allies in getting it passed, non-compliance by states that gain revenue from the fostering and adoption of Native children, arguments championed by the Goldwater Institute to destroy ICWA, and why this issue should be taught as part of U.S. history and civics curriculum.