- Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative
“Mamie's voice adds something unique and powerful as an authentic survivor’s story. She has created a threshold of activism and courage that puts the rest of us on notice that you are never too old to do good... never too old to do justice work.”
‘100 Years From Mississippi’ is a true story of resilience, forgiveness, memory, and hope.
Mamie Lang Kirkland still remembers the night in 1915 when panic filled her home in Ellisville, Mississippi. Her family was forced to flee in darkness from a growing mob of men determined to lynch her father and his friend. Mamie’s family escaped, but her father’s friend, John Hartfield, did not. He suffered one of the most horrific lynchings of the era.
Mamie vowed to never return to Mississippi – until now. After one hundred years, Mamie’s youngest child, filmmaker, Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, takes his mother back to Ellisville to tell her story, honor those who succumbed to the terror of racial violence, and give testimony to the courage and hope epitomized by many of her generation.