The N-Word, a 2004 Peabody Award-winning documentary that explores in-depth one of the most inflammatory words in the English language, will be screened at the Tate Student Center movie theater Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
The Peabodys and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts are co-sponsors of the event, which is open to the public. After the screening, the film’s writer-director, Todd Larkins Williams, will participate in a question-and-answer session moderated by Peabody director Horace Newcomb.
The documentary analyzes the historical roots of the term, considers the word’s current use in popular culture and asks if the use of the epithet by many hip-hop inspired youth, white and black, has stripped away its power to insult and enrage.
Celebrities who weigh in on the topic in the documentary include comedians Chris Rock and George Carlin, hip-hop artists Ice Cube and Chuck D and actors Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames, Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Rapaport. The late Richard Pryor is represented by archival concert clips. Viewers also hear from political activist Dick Gregory, newscaster Bryant Gumbel and scholars such as Alvin Poussaint, Donald Bogle and Robert A. Pratt, head of UGA’s department of history.
