Regional Veterans Day commemorations include the presentation of Rider University film and history student Dani Jackson’s “A Two-Front War” at the university’s Bart Luedeke Center Theater on Thursday, November 11.
The Deptford, New Jersey, raised student’s work focuses on the double fronts that American veterans of African heritage experienced: fighting abroad for American freedoms and fighting on American soil for human and civil rights.
It is part of a 12-part series that Jackson launched for a research project in early 2021 with support from Rider and a Kickstarter campaign that raised $8,000.
Jackson says in a statement, “’A Two-Front War’ grew out of my childhood fascination with military history. I was intrigued by the discipline and fortitude of those within the military, but always felt disconnected from its fervent patriotism. That aspect of American culture, I felt as an African American, I did not have access to. As a student, I was taught briefly about those who contributed to the Civil War Effort (54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment) and the Tuskegee Airmen but did not know African Americans had participated in every conflict the United States has been in since the Revolutionary War. This revelation prompted my research process.”
Jackson adds that “attention to African American men serving in the pre-Korea American armed forces often focuses on the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Civil War), Harlem HellFighters (WWI), and the Tuskegee Airmen (WWII). Producing this series allowed me to explore the role of African Americans in the Armed Forces and the impact these experiences had on America through the Civil Rights Movement.
“Men and women died overseas fighting for the freedom of others but were not seen as equals in their own country. The mistreatment of African Americans returning from war radicalized some veterans to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. The Movement broadened the national and global awareness of the brutal mistreatment of African Americans in America. While the Civil Rights Movement has been widely covered in the media and well-researched in academia, documentarians in the film industry have paid scant attention to the groundwork leading up to those crucial events in the 1960s.
She says documenting this history has been one of the most rewarding, challenging experiences of her life, and that her “genuine hope is that every viewer that watches ‘A Two-Front War’ gains a deeper understanding and empathy for the men and women who sacrificed their lives for a country that refused to recognize their humanity. I want African Americans to know that they have every right to lay claims to all the rights and privileges of American citizenship because their ancestors have fought for it since the inception of this nation. These veterans must be given the honor they deserve and acknowledged for their contributions to American history.”
A self-proclaimed “lover of storytelling,” the recipient of a 2020-21 undergraduate research scholar award says she has dedicated herself to using film “to communicate and understand different perspectives” and as a way of “portraying underrepresented populations on-screen as a way to generate empathy.”
Additionally, she says, “A lot of times in history, African Americans are portrayed and seen in enslavement. We show their oppression. We show their bondage. But I would like for people to see their strength. I would like for these veterans to be remembered for the super soldiers that they were.”
The first episode in the series shows how connections are made. The work focuses on Charles Hamilton Houston, a World War I veteran and Harvard graduate who wrote civil rights legislation and combated school segregation, and Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran who became a Mississippi and deep south civil rights and NAACP organizer and victim to white supremacists.
The Rider University event begins at 6 p.m. with a reception followed by the 7 p.m. screening of the first two episodes and a panel discussion featuring veterans Juliet Foster, U.S. Air Force, and Kelly Atkinson, U. S. Marines; active U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Michael C. Jones; and Rider University professors Nichols McLeod, pan-African studies and African history, and Erica Ryan, modern American history.
“A Two-Front War” film and panel discussion, Bart Luedeke Center, Rider University, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrence. Thursday, November 11, 6 p.m. Free. Registration required via EventBrite.
