Bobby Houston

Filmmaker

Photo supplied by the artist

Mighty Times: The Rosa Parks Story, a short (forty minutes) film by Bobby Houston and Robert Hudson of Tell the Truth Pictures, used vintage film stock and cameras to create images that are virtually indistinguishable from the archival footage. Filmed locally, the reenactments are coupled with interviews from the people who lived the experience of this signal moment in the fight for civil rights. The film is dappled with humor in contrast to the cruel reality of the times. The film was screened in its entirety with the assistance from City of Ventura, Community Services Department.

Rosa Parks struck the match that lit the fire of the Civil Rights movement. This was no “old lady too tired to give up her bus seat.” In fact, she was a 42-year-old NAACP activist committed to social change. Her act of defiance against racial segregation on city buses inspired the African-American community of Montgomery, Alabama, to unite against the segregationists who ran City Hall.

Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, distributed the film free to all public schools within the United States. Contact www.Tolerance.org for more information. The film presents the birth of the Civil Rights Movement as more than a history lesson for the viewer but also as a model for young activists who are looking to make a positive change in their communities.

Houston’s documentation took place in 2003.

The Focus On The Masters archive has extensive information about this artist.

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