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Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence
9.0 / 10• 2019• 52m•NR• English
Documentary
Storyline
Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence is a 50-minute documentary about the life and work of Georgia writer and activist Lillian Smith (1887 – 1966). This documentary explores her legacy and the life journey that led to her awakening, from her childhood experiences in a small southern town, to her years of living abroad in China, to directing a girls' summer camp in North Carolina. By the time she published a bestselling novel in 1944, her moral compass was finely tuned to the changes needed in the southern U.S., and she spent the next two decades confronting the ugly institution of segregation, saying that it harmed whites as much as blacks. In the decade before her death she wrote about the need for freedom and respect for everyone everywhere.
What People Are Saying
5.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Hal Jacobs's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
5.0
“Every frame feels alive. Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
