A documentary on the lynching death of an African-American man and the efforts of his family and descendants to fight against racism, will be featured at the Knoxville Public Library.

“Evanston’s Living History” will be shown by filmmaker Craig Dudnick on Friday, February 15th starting at 3:30 p.m. It recounts the story of Anthony P. Crawford, an emancipated slave and landowner who died in a lynching in South Carolina in 1916. His family and several other black residents were run out of town, and many of them settled in Evanston, Illinois; they also encountered racial discrimination there, but chose to stay and fight against it.

Heather Libby is the Adult Services Librarian at the Knoxville Public Library; she tells KNIA/KRLS News the message of the film is just as important now as it has been throughout American history, as the struggle against racism continues.

“One of the points that is brought up in this film is that several of the people in this documentary fought for the passing of…United States Senate Resolution 39, and that was the official apology for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation; and that wasn’t passed until 2005, so it’s still very much in current history,” Libby says.

The film includes interviews with a number of people associated with the Crawford family or otherwise connected to the subject; it utilizes no narration, instead relying solely on what the subjects have to say.

Dudnick will be on hand to answer questions following the screening of his film; viewers are cautioned that it contains brief images and discussions of racial violence.