The Southern Poverty Law Center is organizing a film screening tonight, Tuesday, April 7th at 5:00 pm at the Historic Alamo Theater. The film itself was produced by SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance program and focuses on the role of student activists in Selma in the period leading up to the passage of the seminal Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is geared toward an audience of diverse ages, from middle school on up.

The April 7th event will include a screening of the film, to be followed by a 45-60 minute panel discussion of civil rights since that time. The panel will focus on the legal evolution of and battles surrounding voting rights in Mississippi over the course of the past 50 years. Panelists are prominent civil rights leaders and some of the best legal minds in the state, including: Derrick Johnson, the President of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP; Attorney Brad Pigott of Pigott and Johnson; and Attorney Carroll Rhodes.

The event is free and open to the public.

There will be food, catered by Julep, and drinks will be provided.