In honor of Black History Month, The Park Theatre will screen the historic debate between African American author and activist, James Baldwin and public intellectual and conservative author, William F. Buckley, Jr. The screening will happen on Sunday, February 27 at 2pm in the King Auditorium screening room.
The highly-publicized debate occurred at the Cambridge Union at Cambridge University in Great Britain on February 18, 1965. The topic of the debate was titled “Has the American Dream Been Achieved at the Expense of the American Negro?” This highly charged debate between these two extremely bright men occurred during the height of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The 60-minute debate aired on the predecessor of PBS, (NET - National Educational Television) and the program achieved a record audience rating for the nascent network.
The film is a major historic artifact about life in the United States and interestingly was debated in the UK.