Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2019.
The topic is the life and career of the African-American pastor and author Howard Thurman (1899-1981).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Writer, producer and director: Martin Doblmeier
** Narrator: Martin Doblmeier
** Studio: Journey Films
** Run time: 56 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film.
Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
** Lerita Coleman Brown – professor emerita
** Peter Eisenstadt – historian – co-author of a book about Thurman’s journey to India in the 1930s
** Gregory C. Ellison II – civil rights activist
** Walter Earl Fluker – The Howard Thurman Papers Project, Boston University
** Eileen Guenther – professor of church music
** Jesse Jackson - civil rights activist
** Vernon Jordan – civil rights activist
** John Lewis (1940-2020) –
former member of the US Congress, the Democratic Party
** Otis Moss, Jr. – pastor emeritus
** Otis Moss III – senior pastor
** Alton Pollard III – professor of religion and culture
** Luther E. Smith – professor emeritus – author of a biography of Thurman
** Barbara Brown Taylor – author
** Anton Wong – Howard Thurman’s grandson
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads. Archive footage includes some old clips with Howard Thurman himself. In addition, there are some quotes from Thurman’s writings. These passages are read by the actor Keith David.
As stated above, Howard Thurman was a pastor and an author. In the 1930s, he and three companions were invited to visit India. During an extensive visit, they met Mahatma Gandhi and talked to him about the non-violent approach which Gandhi and his followers used in their struggle against British colonialism.
Perhaps African-Americans could use this approach against discrimination and oppression in the US?
For Martin Luther King Jr. and other members of the civil rights movement in the US, Howard Thurman was a mentor and a source of inspiration.
In this film, we learn how and why he is important to this movement.
Howard Thurman was not a man who went on the barricades. He was not the man who would lead his followers on a protest march against the authorities.
He was a spiritual leader who offered advice and ideas on how to approach the problems of discrimination and oppression.
The title of the film is inspired by a passage in Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited (first published in 1949):
“The masses of men live with their backs constantly against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed.”
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 77 percent which corresponds to a rating of 3.9 stars on Amazon.
On Amazon there are at the moment 57 ratings of this product, 17 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.6 stars which corresponds to a rating of 92 percent.
Ed McNulty has posted a review of this film on his website Visual Parables. He says this product deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
As you can see, the ratings are quite good. I agree with the numerous positive reviews.
This film is a great introduction to the life and career of Howard Thurman.
If you are interested in the modern history of the US – in particular the question of civil rights - this film is definitely something for you.
It is highly recommended.
PS # 1. Howard Thurman was married two times.
His first wife was Katie Kelly. They were married in 1926. They had one daughter: Olive Thurman Wong (1927-2012). Katie Kelly died in 1930.
His second wife was Sue Bailey. They were married in 1932. They had one daughter: Anne Spencer Thurman (1933-2001). Sue Bailey died in 1996.
PS # 2. Anton Wong, who appears in the film, is the son of Thurman’s first daughter Olive. He is an architect. He lives in New York City.
PS # 3. Jesse Jackson appears several times. Whenever he appears on the screen, it seems there is something wrong with him. He has almost no voice to talk and his words are not always easy to understand. There is a reason for this.
In 2017, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed with this disease in 2015. This disease can affect the movement of the body. It can also affect the power of speech.
PS # 4. Howard Thurman’s autobiography With Head and Heart was published in 1981.
*****
With Head and Heart
the autobiography of
Howard Thurman
(1981)
*****
Visions of a better World:
Howard Thurman's Pilgrimage to India and the
Origins of African American Nonviolence
By Quinton Dixie and Peter Eisenstadt
With a foreword by Walter Earl Fluker
(Hardcover 2011)
(Paperback 2014)
*****
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