Timed to coincide with its recognition of Black History Month, the Avalon Theatre is presenting a special program to acknowledge Washington, D.C.’s segregated past, as well as discrimination within the film industry, and by showing DO THE RIGHT THING, the groundbreaking 1989 comedy-drama by Director Spike Lee about the simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood on a hot summer’s day..

Following the film, Avalon Board member and executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies, Tope Folarin, will moderate a conversation with three experts about the film, the historical segregation of D.C.’s public accommodations and neighborhoods, and the emergence of a “Black Hollywood,” to combat the racism and discrimination occurring within the American film industry for much of the 20^th century.

The members of the panel include Bernard Demczuk, an educator and cultural historian; Briana A. Thomas, Arts and Culture writer for Washingtonian Magazine and the author of the local history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C.; and Mariana Barros-Titus, the Community Engagement Manager for the DC History Center.