1966 civil rights teens reunite 50 years later—same play, same wounds, new reckoning.
Joanne Williams' documentary captures an experiment of sorts. In 1966, amid the Civil Rights era, students from Milwaukee's Rufus King High School and students from Kaukauna High School participated in an exchange program that culminated in a production of Martin Duberman's play IN WHITE AMERICA. Now, over fifty years later, the original participants come together with a new generation, reprising this play with reflection and new energy amid our own racial reckoning.
Direction
Williams weaves 1966 footage with present-day silence that speaks volumes.
Production
The original play's staging—then and now—is wrenchingly intimate.
Director
Joanne Williams
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Martin Duberman's 1963 play was considered radical for putting Black voices center-stage; by 2022, its structure feels almost quaintly didactic.
Kaukauna High still runs the exchange program—though now King students visit them, a reversal Williams notes with dry understatement.
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