On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the history department hosted a historical movie night event in Henderson 112. The film “Paul Robeson” is a one-man stage performance performed by late actor James Earl Jones. In the performance, James Earl Jones portrayed an American musician, actor and civil rights activist, Paul Robeson.

Tom Prasch, chair of the history department and Phi Alpha Theta faculty sponsor, picked this movie because he wanted students to learn about the life and career of Robeson and to honor Jones by showing students his life on stage.

“James Earl Jones [died] a few weeks ago, I just thought we had to do something. He’s such an important figure in American film and stage. So I looked around and dug this up,” Prasch said. “Robeson had a really interesting career, and it’s a chance to see James Earl Jones in his stage persona, so I thought this would be a good thing.”

Joscelyn Powell, junior history major, explained what Historical Movie Night typically looks like.

“It’s these really lovely nights…usually going along with the theme of what’s going on in school or what’s going on in politics. James Earl Jones died a month ago, and we actually got to watch a movie he did as a one-man show tonight, and it was a beautiful remembrance of him,” Powell said.

Rebecca Bearman, freshman history and international business major, shared what she learned from the movie during the event.

“… it was basically Paul Robeson’s whole life and his career. How he was a civil rights activist, he started at his college as the first black person there, the first black person on his football team, the adversities that he faced and then how he kept going,” Bearman said.

The Historical Movie Night events are open to anyone who wants to learn about the events that took place in the past through film.

Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford