Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story

Debuts Nationally on Public Television’s WORLD Channel on Friday, February 8 at 9:00 PM ET

And on Public Television Stations Throughout February As Part of Black History Month Programming

Portrait of Influential African American Theologian, Preacher, Writer

and Civil Rights Leader by Award-Winning Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier Explores the Life of the Man Who Inspired Martin Luther

King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Vernon Jordan and Others

“Howard Thurman was a saint of the movement” – Congressman John Lewis

(Alexandria, VA) — Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story explores the extraordinary life and legacy of one of the most important religious figures of the 20th century. Born the grandson of slaves, Howard Thurman became the “spiritual foundation” for the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring many of its leaders — including his close friend Martin Luther King, Jr. Featured in the film are a host of scholars, theologians, and Civil Rights pioneers including Congressman John Lewis, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Vernon Jordan, and more. Written and directed by Martin Doblmeier, the creator of dozens of award-winning films on faith, Backs Against the Wall premieres on the WORLD Channel on Friday, February 8, 2019, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), and on public television stations throughout the month of February.

Born in 1899, Howard Thurman distinguished himself at an early age, becoming the first African American to graduate from the eighth grade in his hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida. He went on to become valedictorian of his class at Morehouse College, studied at the Rochester Theological Seminary and Haverford College and would eventually be an influential teacher at Morehouse, Spelman College and Howard University. In the mid-1930s, Thurman’s life was transformed when he was the first African American invited to India to meet Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi suggested that it would be through the African American experience that the non-violence resistance movement could take on global significance. When Thurman returned to America, his writings and speeches planted the early seeds for the non-violent Civil Rights Movement. Says Jesse

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Jackson, “Thurman helped establish the philosophical framework of how to struggle. They may be able to break your bones or your arms, but not your spirit.” Thurman would go on to write the influential Jesus and the Disinherited, which firmly connected the life of Jesus with the struggles of the oppressed everywhere. Thurman is also remembered for helping launch The Fellowship Church for All People in San Francisco, considered to be the nation’s first interracial, multicultural church community. Launched in 1944, the church experimented with new forms of worship including theater and dance and counted Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune as at-large members. In all of his teachings, Thurman was determined to break down what he saw as the artificial walls between races, nationalities and denominations. He went on to serve as dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University (1953–1965), eventually retiring to San Francisco where he died in 1981. Visit the Journey Films web site to learn more about the film, view video clips, see a list of screenings and events, and download educational materials, screening guides and more. Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story is produced by Journey Films, Inc., and is a presentation of Maryland Public Television. Major funding provided by the Lilly Endowment. About the Participants, in Alphabetical Order Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The recipient of over forty honorary doctorate degrees, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. A renowned orator and international peacemaker, Rev. Jackson is also the author or co-author of the books Keep Hope Alive, Straight From the Heart, Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty, and It’s About The Money. John Lewis is a United States Congressman representing Georgia’s Fifth District and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. He was a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in 1963 and co-led the 1965 voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis is co-author of the National Book Award-winning graphic novel and memoir trilogy MARCH and Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, written with Brenda Jones. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. is senior counsel at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld, LLC, and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Mr. Jordan’s prior positions include president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, Inc.; executive director of the United Negro College Fund, Inc.; field director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and many other posts. Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won an Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Her 2014 book Learning to Walk in the Dark was featured

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on the cover of TIME magazine. Her fourteenth book, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, will be released by HarperOne in 2019. Alton B. Pollard, III is president and professor of religion and culture at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. A scholar, author, consultant and speaker on the subject of African American and U.S. religion and culture, Pollard was previously dean of the School of Divinity and professor of Religion and Culture at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Pollard is the author of Mysticism and Social Change: The Social Witness of Howard Thurman and co-editor of The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman Volumes I and II. Walter Earl Fluker is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership at the Boston University School of Theology and editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. His publications include the multi-volume The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman and The Ground Has Shifted: The Future of the Black Church in Post-Racial America. The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. is pastor emeritus of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. He was a board member and regional director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under the presidency of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a national board member and trustee of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III is senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL and a leader for social justice and equality in the Black Theology tradition. In 2014, he presented the Lyman Beecher lectures at Yale University, which became the foundation for his most recent book, Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World: Finding Hope in an Age of Despair. Luther E. Smith, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. An ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. Smith’s publications include Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet and Howard Thurman: Essential Writings (editor). He is senior consulting editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. Peter Eisenstadt, Ph.D., is a historian of American religion and history and co-author (with Quinton Dixie) of Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African-American Nonviolence. He is a senior volume editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project and associate editor of The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vols. I-IV. His biography of Howard Thurman, Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman, is forthcoming in 2020. Gregory C. Ellison, II is Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is the author of the forthcoming book Anchored in the Current: The Eternal Wisdom of Howard Thurman in a Changing World. Anton Howard Wong is the grandson of Dr. Howard Thurman and a registered architect in New York City. He was born in San Francisco, home of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, where his parents met in the 1950s.

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Lerita Coleman Brown is the Ayse I. Carden Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Agnes Scott College and a spiritual director whose particular focus is the life and work of Howard Thurman. A graduate of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, she leads retreats on Thurman and other topics on contemplative spirituality at venues around the United States. Eileen Guenther is Professor of Church Music and Director of Chapel Music at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She is the author of In Their Own Words: Slave Life and the Power of Spirituals and Rivals or a Team: Clergy-Musician Relationships in the Twenty-First Century. Lawrence Edward Carter, Sr., is dean of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, professor of religion, and college archivist and curator at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He designed the burial memorials for Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman at Morehouse College, Thurman’s alma mater. About the Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier (Writer/Director) is the founder and president of Journey Films in Alexandria, Virginia, an independent television and film production company that produces award-winning films that explore religion, spirituality, history and social issues. Doblmeier’s work has appeared on most major television networks including PBS, ABC, NBC and The History Channel and others, have won countless awards, and screened at festivals, universities and symposia in the U.S. and abroad. Doblmeier holds a degree in Religious Studies, a Master’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and two honorary doctorates. Doblmeier’s films include An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story (2017), about the life and impact of the influential public theologian and the series Chaplains (2015), which profiled chaplains from different faith traditions who work in both traditional and unexpected settings. Other productions include The ADVENTISTS Trilogy (2014), a collection of three films, which explored the faith and life of Seventh-day Adventists; Washington National Cathedral: A New Century, A New Calling, about America’s “national house of prayer;” The Power Of Forgiveness, a documentary that explores how the various faith traditions and health sciences are convening around the topic of forgiveness; Albert Schweitzer: Called To Africa, a docudrama on the Nobel Laureate; and Bonhoeffer, about the German theologian and Nazi resister who joined the plots to kill Adolf Hitler that played theatrically and was broadcast on PBS. About Journey Films Founded in 1983 by Martin Doblmeier, Journey Films is a television and film production company specializing in religion, faith and spirituality. Journey has produced more than 30 documentary films that have aired on PBS, ABC, NBC, the BBC and on broadcast outlets around the world. Journey’s films have been translated into more than a dozen languages. The early films introduced the American audience to the faith communities of Taize and L’Arche. Biographical documentaries followed with profiles on Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, the celebrated German theologian and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the architect of the Catholic Church’s Vatican II – Cardinal Suenens. The Power of Forgiveness won many top awards and inspired a companion book. A profile of the Washington National Cathedral won a regional Emmy and The

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ADVENTISTS films became a popular series on PBS stations and a best-selling DVD on Amazon. In all, Journey’s films have won six Gabriel Awards for the nation’s best film on a topic of religion, three awards at the US International Film and Television Festival, the Sun Valley Film Festival and many others. More information is available at https://journeyfilms.com/ About MPT Launched in 1969 and headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, Maryland Public Television is a nonprofit, state-licensed public television network and member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). MPT’s six transmitters cover Maryland plus portions of contiguous states and the District of Columbia. Frequent winner of regional Emmy® awards, MPT creates local, regional, and national television shows. Beyond broadcast, MPT’s commitment to professional educators, parents, caregivers, and learners of all ages is delivered through year-round instructional events and the super-website Thinkport, which garners in excess of 14 million page views annually. MPT’s community engagement connects viewers with local resources on significant health, education, and public interest topics through year-round outreach events, viewer forums, program screenings, and phone bank call-in opportunities. About WORLD Channel WORLD Channel delivers the best of public media’s nonfiction, news and documentary programming. The channel features original content from the heart of America's multicultural neighborhoods, creating award-winning series and specials, and offering a national platform to diverse filmmakers and communities via local public television stations, streaming online at worldchannel.org and social media platforms. WORLD Channel currently reaches markets representing more than 63% of U.S. TV households and millions more online, bringing powerful documentaries into people's lives and exploring the personal stories behind the headlines. WORLD has won numerous national honors including a Peabody and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, a Media for a Just Society Award, two Lesbian & Gay Journalist Awards, a Gracie, an Asian American Journalists Award and many others. WORLD Channel also won the Radio Television Digital News Association’s 2017 Kaleidoscope Award for its critically-acclaimed series, AMERICA REFRAMED and has received seven National News & Documentary Emmy Nominations. WORLD is programmed by WGBH/Boston, in partnership with American Public Television and WNET/New York, and in association with PBS and National Educational Telecommunications Association. Funding for the WORLD Channel is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation and The Kendeda Fund. For more information about The WORLD Channel, visit www.worldchannel.org.

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