Screening: Get in the Way

A free screening of the 2017 PBS documentary Get in the Way will be presented on Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 5:10 pm in the Michigan Theater. The film chronicles the journey of civil rights hero, congressman, and human rights champion John Lewis and is presented in partnership with Detroit Public Television (DPTV).

This screening of Get in the Way replaces the previously scheduled speaker series talk by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell on the collaborative co-authoring of MARCH, a graphic novel trilogy about the congressmen’s life and activism. The talk was postponed due to an emergency meeting called by the Congressional Black Caucus in the nation’s capitol, and will now take place on November 27, 2017 at 7 pm in Hill Auditorium.

Please visit the Conflict and Peace Initiative’s Marching Forward website for information on additional events with MARCH illustrator Nate Powell. 

About Get in the Way

Through never-before-seen interviews shot over 20 years, Lewis, a masterful storyteller, tells the gripping tale of his role in these history-making events. Other key interviewees include civil rights activists Andrew Young, C.T. Vivian, Juanita Abernathy, and Bernard Lafayette, plus Lewis’ congressional colleagues Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Emanuel Cleaver, and Amory Houghton.

Once an activist pushing from the outside, Lewis, now 76 years old, has become a determined legislator making noise on the inside. Considered by many to be the conscience of Congress, with equal measures of modesty and forcefulness, Lewis strives to persuade D.C. power brokers to hear the voices of the unheard. He fights for those suffering from discrimination, poverty, poor education, police brutality, inaccessible healthcare and limitations on voter rights. Despite setbacks – and there have been many – John Lewis’ eyes remain on the prize. More