The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today – McCollum vs. Board of Education – The Movie
I am so freakin excited. This movie is about one of the most important court cases of the last century. You owe it to your self to see this show. The movie is call “The Lord in not on trial here today“.
The Film
She was called “that awful woman” by her neighbors, and “that atheist mother” by virtually every newspaper in the country. Her friends stopped returning phone calls rather than risk speaking with her. She received up to 200 letters a day, some of the writers claiming they would pray for her; many wishing for much worse. She was branded a communist, and the Illinois State Legislature nearly outlawed her and her husband from ever teaching at the state university again.All because, in 1945, this young mother of three from a small central Illinois town, ironically with the biblical first name of Vashti, Vashti McCollum would file a historic lawsuit that would forever change the relationship between religion and public schools in America.
THE LORD IS NOT ON TRIAL HERE TODAY tells the compelling personal story behind one of the most important and landmark First Amendment cases in U.S. Supreme Court history, the case that set the foundation for the separation of church and state in public schools. The film recounts what Vasti McCollum later described as “three years of headlines, headaches, and hatred,” but which eventually led to a decision that still resonates in the church-state conflicts of today, 60 years after the original decision in McCollum vs. Board of Education.
In July of this year I was able to meet one of her sons, Jim McCollum while I was in Arkansas. I have also had the honor to meet Dannel McCollum several times at conventions and events at the U of I. Dannel was also the mayor for Champaign, IL for 12 years. Well I was just informed by a friend (thanks MP) that Chapmaign IL will host the first showing ever of this movie.
ACLU benefit movie at the Art Theater!
126 W Church St, Champaign
Thursday October 7, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Advance tickets $6 at the box office.“The Lord is not on Trial Here Today” is a new documentary by Jay Rosenstein detailing the personal saga of Vashti McCollum and her family as she challenged the Champaign school district policy (common nation-wide at the time) of “released time” for religious instruction in the classroom, taught by outside clergy and laypeople from various faiths. When oldest son, Jim, was in the 5th grade, the McCollums chose to withdraw his participation in the program, resulting in intense pressure from the community and incidents of harassment. McCollum, with financial support from a Chicago business group and additional support from the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee (the forerunner of the ACLU of Illinois), sued to stop the practice of “released time” and appealed decisions by the Circuit Court and Illinois Supreme Court, culminating in the landmark 1948 Supreme Court decision “McCollum v Board of Education”. Some 40 years later, middle son Dannel went on to become a three-term mayor of Champaign.
Vashti McCollum received our Victor Stone Awardin 1998, for lifetime achievement in supporting Civil Liberties. Jay Rosenstein, a former steering committee member, received our W Ellison Chalmers Award in 2001, for extraordinary service to the community in the cause of civil rights and civil liberties. He has graciously offered to allow us to announce this screening first to our chapter members, and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU of Illinois.
Please join us to see this movie. You can learn more about the case “McCollum v. Board of Education” at Wikipedia.
