Langston Hughes African American Film Festival 2008

Seattle Premiere - The story of Black Panther George Jackson's life through to his death in 1971 at the hands of San Quentin Prison guards. Inmate activist George Lester Jackson’s (CSI's Gary Dourdan) short life became a flashpoint for revolution igniting the bloodiest riot in San Quentin’s history. Black August tells the story of the last event-filled months of Jackson’s journey from street tough to political martyr. After moving with his family from Chicago to Los Angeles, Jackson was arrested for a $70 gas station robbery and received a sentence of one year to life. During his eleven years in prison, Jackson studied Marx, Mao and other revolutionary thinkers. He channeled the explosive rage of an oppressed and exploited community into a powerful indictment of the racial status quo in a series of passionate and poetic letters that were collected and published in the volume Soledad Brother. Part of a legacy that includes Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis, Jackson’s writings made him both a best-selling author and a lightning rod for controversy in one of America’s most politically polarized eras.

Post screening discussion with Seattle Black Panther Party Alumni.