The film “Evanston’s Living History” deals with the challenges one African-American family faced when they were forced to move from the South to Evanston, Illinois…and how their experience helped effect change in society.

Filmmaker Craig Dudnick presented his documentary at the Knoxville Public Library on Friday; it tells the story of the family of Anthony Crawford; he was a wealthy and prominent businessman in Abbeville, South Carolina in 1916, until a dispute led to his lynching and the forced relocation of all of the town’s African-American citizens.

His family moved to Evanston and continued to face racial discrimination; but Dudnick tells KNIA/KRLS News they challenged it, and eventually joined forces with the families of Emmett Till and the civil rights workers killed in Mississippi in 1963 to compel the United States Senate to take responsibility.

“Something like 200 bills had come before the Senate for anti-lynching, for federal protection, and they always vetoed it. So in 2005, it was a voice vote at night, but the Senate formally apologized for not backing anti-lynching legislation,” Dudnick said.

“Now you think of it, this is the first…American government apology, formal apology for anything regarding slavery or lynching. And that’s due to the family who kept that going.”

Dudnick says Crawford’s descendants, his granddaughter in particular, helped support anti-discrimination and civil rights action throughout their lives; they formed the core of political support which led to Harold Washington’s election as Mayor of Chicago, and eventually Barack Obama’s election as President.

A copy of “Evanston’s Living History” is available from the Knoxville Public Library; it contains interviews with many of the Crawfords and their friends and family. Viewers should also know it contains scenes of racial violence, so discretion is advised.