Beyond Galilee, a documentary which traces the early days of the civil rights movement in Shreveport, using a 1958 speech delivered in Shreveport by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will screen at Bossier Library History Center on Saturday, February 23rd at 2:00 p.m. (event link).
Reverend Asriel McLain of the historic Little Union Baptist Church is interested in building this city’s Black history tourism. Little Union was at the center of the Civil Rights movement in Shreveport when then-Reverend Harry Blake, who was then president of the NAACP, was beaten inside the church by Shreveport Police officers.
Little Union is home to several Civil Rights era artifacts such as the rostrum from which Martin Luther King, Jr, spoke. These items are protected at Little Union so that coming generations will have the benefit of their place in history.
The neighborhood does not look like 1963. The housing that once surrounded Little Union is sparse today, but meeting with the history-minded pastor deepened my understanding of the frightening era through which we have passed.
To learn more Little Union and Asriel’s father, the stalwart pastor CC McLain, see the documentary Beyond Galilee. A screening and panel discussion will be hosted by Bossier Parish Library History Center (2206 Beckett St) on Saturday, February 23rd from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..